Abstract

Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer known for its Swedish-styled democratic designs that blended form, function, quality, sustainability, and economy, was working on redesigning its products in a major way to suit changing consumer tastes marked by urbanization and increased use of technology. Ikea’s strategy aimed to create radical futuristic product designs by hiring a new design head, collaborating with prominent fashion designers, and establishing facilities like Space10, which would help in the radical and rapid development of new product designs. The case gives detailed information about Ikea’s design culture and how Ikea evolved its designs from co-workers, designers, and crowd sourcing. It provides scope for a discussion on the challenges in creating fashionable and futuristic product designs that have global appeal.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the complexities in overhauling a company’s product design
• Analyze the ways a company can build a design-driven culture
• Debate the importance of design in building sales
• Appreciate the impact of collaborations

Keywords

Futuristic Kitchen 2025,Space10 Lab ,CIID, IDEO, Product design, Radical design, Collaboration, Fashion designers, Innovation ,Co-creating ,Home Tour and contests ,Futuristic demand, urban living, ,Furniture with built-in technology ,Product Testing, quality standards, ,Product launch, Prototyping, Sustainable material