I received this Ikea lamp as a surprise gift today:
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/70146339
No doubt because I'd been eyeing it a few times in the store, (but couldn't bring myself to buy it). I certainly didn't need it, and its underpowered anyway, and uses one of those European bulbs that requires you to go to Ikea to replace. But I loved the design, because it appeared to be a take on a popular, classic MCM table lamp design by Arne Jacobsen. I even (also) appreciated the way they actually made a lamp resembling an Arne Jacobsen design to sell for less than $5 bucks! Unheard of. As Ikea says, designing expensive products is easy, designing good & stylish products for cheap is a lot harder.
The question I'd like to ask today is: putting aside the usual quality argument, are there any current or past products IKEA products that DesignAddicts like for the design? Any products you would or have bought there?
I've currently been getting into their cut-fabric textiles.
This lamp is, IMHO, a steal,...
This lamp is, IMHO, a steal, especially at the £1.95 price it retails for in the UK. It has a pleasing form and emits a nice, soft light, and it's not unlike something that Kartell and Philippe Starck would have cooked up. While the finishing isn't quite up to Kartell's standards, at under two quid it would be churlish to complain.
It's all plastic, in case that's not clear from the picture.
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/90096102
Sure. This is the classic...
Sure. This is the classic Jacobsen table lamp I had in mind when I saw Ikea's:
I also dug the above lamp Andrew posted, which appears to be clearly "inspired" by Philip Starcke's 'Miss K' lamp, but at a price that even Botswanian refugees can afford.
I also got 3 of these vases, which "clearly appear to be 'inspired'" by Jonathan Adler vases, that sell at a price (3 for $10 vs. $48 each!) that even Gitmo detainees can afford:
Ikea:
http://www.hgtv.ca/blog/photos/stylesheet/images/44624/original.aspx
Jonathan Adler designs:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gQMChxMH7_Q/RuyFnsDwbLI/AAAAAAAAAms/gqnrf-0SgB...
Personally, I love IKEA's lamps
I have a slew of them in my home. In fact most of my lighting is from IKEA. The prices are great and the quality is usually pretty decent. You do need to watch out for underpowering and also big honking transformers that will secretly add to your electric bill, but otherwise they are great. Hey, if I can save a few bucks with cheap lighting, then I can spend it on the things that matter more to me!
Some of the Ikea lighting I've got:
This one, perhaps. Similar...
This one, perhaps. Similar base, but closed, not open, horseshoe type.
Olive: I've also got the same little white glass lamp you pictured, except in avocado green (in the center of my Danish teak MCM kitchen table). I recently fitted a piece of fabric to the shade part, just to give it some interest with a bit of texture (Ikea's Karna fabric in lime).
I think the Ikea lamp
I think the IKEA lamp is a swing and a miss compared to the Jacobsen.
I really like Ikea's Enetri shelving units - simple and clean. And if the shelves disintegrate I can always replace them with a more elegant material - like wood.
Also a fan of the Malm series, but I think quality issues prevent it from being really great.
The most interesting thing at Ikea (to me) are the little DIY Fira boxes - which bear an uncanny resemblance to the earliest Eames case goods (in looks alone)
Photos:
Enetri
Eames
Fira
Poang chair
The Poang chair has been in production since the 80s, I think, and I believe it has won a design award of some sort. I have one and it's the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in.
We have lots of ceiling lighting from IKEA. I have an older pendant lamp that is based on a design by Poul Henningsen. We also have a bunch of these little $3.99 "Lock" ceiling lights---simple, small, functional and good-looking.
They used to have a really nice pendant fixture called "Qvintet" that was frosted white glass (maybe even cased glass) in a simple upside-down bell, nice size, good proportions. I didn't have any place for it in our current house but we did put it in the vestibule of the house we owned in Denmark.
Last, this shelf unit thing, "Anga", is in our family room where we needed something light, tall, wide and shallow. It has glass shelves. I love it except for the sagging tops on two of the cabinets. They're supposed to support 88 lbs but I have a feeling that is 88 lbs evenly distributed over the whole top of the cabinet. Our TV is making the damn thing sag.
I've got some IKEA from the early '90's
One of my very fav's is a CD storage cabinet that is only about 8" deep. It's been the absolute perfect solution where it's located and has aged quite gracefully despite being mounted and remounted on the wall every time I paint. I'm actually thinking of leaving it withthe house when we sell it as it's so perfect where it is that it looks like a built-in. Sorry the photo is at such a distance, but it's the black thing on the red chimney tower.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com