IKEA hacks are really popular—in the past we’ve looked at how the modular furniture can be hacked to suit tiny apartments, one of our editors has come up with some hacks of her own, and specialty sellers on Etsy sell their own kits to modify all manner of flat-pack pieces. And IKEA is thoroughly aware of this trend—they’ve even tried to stop people from profiting from it. And now, according to Gizmodo, the furniture giant is looking to jump on the bandwagon and produce its own line of hack kits.
Ikea presented the idea at the second annual IKEA Democratic Design Day—which is held at the company’s headquarters in Sweden—and Gizmodo’s Adam Clark Estes was on site as the company’s designers raised the question: “What if you could browse a site and see hacks for all the available products?” Which, oddly enough, already exists in the form of IkeaHackers—a site that IKEA once tried to shut down. The proposed site would be run by IKEA itself, and would sell kits to hack their products.
Related: 9 ingenious ways to hack IKEA furniture for tiny apartments
The prototype is, as Estes describes “a little bit janky,” it’s a simple kit to turn the FROSTA stool (pictured above) into a chair—you can see pictures of it here. If they do actually launch the Hack Kits, it would certainly be a curious move by IKEA, but possibly a smart one considering the wild popularity of their products, and the DIY community that already surrounds them.
In addition, they’re also mulling the idea of jumping aboard the massive IKEA resale market. One concept would see consumers trading in old IKEA products at stores once they decide to redecorate their apartment/dorm/office/etc, and another would create a marketplace for selling used IKEA furniture. If that can promote a longer life for their products, and less waste, then that could be a very good thing. Now we just have to see if IKEA goes ahead with either of these proposals.
Via Gizmodo
Images via Evan Lorne / Shutterstock.com and Ikea.