IKEA’s “Treasure of the Town Store”, which has been popular for 60 years, how could it be hacked like this?

Have you noticed the recently "blackened" IKEA?

Not only the blue and yellow LOGO has turned black, but the IKEA blue bag (FRAKTA bag) that everyone has has also turned black.

It is also "blackened" into three modes :

1. Woven bags.

2. Computer bag.

3. Toolkit.

This is just the beginning.

Just yesterday afternoon, at Milan Design Week 2022, IKEA blew up its lifestyle collection.

"Blackened" IKEA, the popular "black bag"

There are more than 20 household items in the new "blackening".

In addition to the previously announced FRAKTA bags, three more models have been revealed, which are called the "Obegränsad series" .

Respectively, a vinyl record player.

IKEA pushes vinyl record players? It may sound surprising, but the reason is not surprising.

Their original intention of launching this vinyl record player is to hope that more people can enjoy better music quality at a lower price.

It looks square and honest, whether it is placed in the IKEA store or your living room, the style can immediately rise.

There is also an armchair.

It looks neat, clean and powerful, just like… a bit sloppy.

Finally a table.

It doesn't look much different from a normal desk, but the desk is wide enough to hold not only musical instruments, but more modules for other small things.

All 20 new products will be announced when they are released in September, covering furniture, accessories, tools and other lifestyle products.

You may be wondering why this batch of IKEA new products is all black?

It has to start with the Mafia (Swedish House Mafia).

The Mafia, originally a secret society organization originated in Italy, commonly known as the gang, became the name of the legendary Swedish electronic music group in 2008.

The band has become a global hit within 3 years of its debut. It has repeatedly entered the TOP 10 of the British Pop Gold Chart/American Dance Chart, ranked tenth on the DJ MAG Top 100, and was nominated for the Grammy Award.

The bad news is that in 2012 the band disbanded. The good news is that in 2018 the band regrouped again.

IKEA is eyeing this wild and free band this time, hoping to pass the band's appeal and creativity to more people's lives.

In fact, during the epidemic, people spend more time in their own homes. Listening to music and singing has become one of the daily ways to relieve stress. A report by a charity organization once showed that 85% of people said that music made them feel soothed and happy at home.

This makes IKEA's cross-border music field also logical.

Although the "blackened product" has not been fully announced, the most popular of the two new products that have been launched is the "blackened" FRAKTA bag.

In addition to creativity, these three bags pay more attention to practicality, and at the same time, music and home are bound together in design and spirit.

In the beginning, the inspiration for the design of these three bags came from the fact that the Mafia had to haul cables, connectors, laptops, accessories, and even vinyl records everywhere on the road, and everything became messy and finally tired. painful experience.

Thus, the first product inspired by the FRAKTA woven bag, large enough to hold up to 100 vinyl records, and foldable into a carrying case to take with you.

Its straps are also thicker woven, which IKEA says is comparable to a car seat belt and appears to be stronger and more durable.

Another backpack, which can hold a laptop and some simple clothes, may also be the best bag for daily travel.

The last small bag, the storage capacity is very powerful.

Mobile phones, chargers, charging cables, earphones… all can be inserted neatly and orderly.

These three packages, for music creators, can provide enough space to put all kinds of music tools, and for the general public, they also cover almost all the scenes of our home and going out, and also meet different functions and different style individual needs.

It's no surprise that the FRAKTA bag has become the focus of the most popular attention.

After all, FRAKTA bags have always been one of the products that best represent the spirit of IKEA.

FRAKTA bag "Crazy Creation"

FRAKTA means "freight" in Swedish.

True to its name, it is a bag that can hold almost any household necessities.

The bag was born in the 1960s – when IKEA had just opened its first IKEA store in Almbult and started selling more and more small furniture products.

IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad observed more than 10 shopping malls and found that when shopping, people often push big trolleys to pay, but because there are only some small plastic baskets or plastic bags, many people put down some large items halfway. , just buy some small things to go home.

If they have to buy, they will pay and take them away in their arms, but this makes their shopping trip not only heavy, but also embarrassing to carry on the way home.

So, IKEA decided to make a big shopping bag – FRAKTA.

At first, the FRAKTA bag was only available in yellow.

It can be carried on the shoulder, hung on a trolley, or carried with you.

Finalizing the bag size isn't easy either – Lars Göran Peterson, Head of Purchasing at IKEA, and LGP have measured just about everything we can carry in our lives before finally calculating the optimal size for a FRAKTA bag.

IKEA searched for manufacturers everywhere , and finally found a suitable one in Taiwan. They can make one big enough to roll into a small bag, yet strong enough to carry 50kg.

At that time, the owner of the Taiwan factory took out the polypropylene material for making rice bags, and then found a 50-kilogram girl in the office and asked her to stand in the bag. Then they each took the handle on one side of the bag and lifted the bag up. ——Sturdy, not broken at all!

And just like that, the production of FRAKTA shopping bags began.

At checkout, IKEA sells FRAKTA bags for as little as a few bucks, so customers can take the big bags home with them and reuse them over and over again.

IKEA has always been a brand that does not like advertising and marketing, which can be seen from the birth of the FRAKTA shopping bag.

There were tens of millions of bags in town at the time. Football coaches used them to hold equipment, farmers used them to pick apples, and tide runners used them to hold pets for transportation.

When the bag can be seen everywhere on the street, in the supermarket, and on the beach, they immediately agree: Oh, it's IKEA.

For IKEA, customers are probably the best carrier for brand communication.

But in 1989, when the first batch of yellow FRAKTA bags were tested at the IKEA store in Germany, there was a lot of confusion: the staff had no way of confirming which bags were unpaid, which were paid, and later solutions Yes – make another bag in a different color.

So, the blue FRAKTA bag that continues to this day appeared.

Later, only the blue FRAKTA bags could be sold, and the yellow FRAKTA bags could only be left in the store, which made everything much simpler.

Today, millions of FRAKTA bags are sold around the world every year, and new people are constantly placing orders for them.

Large capacity, good quality, cost-effective, sustainable, and long service life are some of the reasons for its popularity.

This also coincides with IKEA's philosophy that "high quality should not only serve the rich".

Perhaps the FRAKTA bag itself did not foresee that it is no longer a simple shopping bag, but a cultural symbol of IKEA.

When a shopping bag becomes a new trend

The popularity of the FRAKTA bag has a lot to do with the pain points it hits most people's lives.

And it has become a popular way, and it is inseparable from the fresh topics and creative gameplay that IKEA keeps making.

In 2016, IKEA asked several designers to create several limited-edition/pop-up bags inspired by FRAKTA bags.

They are mostly the same material and size, but have different colors and patterns.

Off-White founder Virgil Abloh's remodeled FRAKTA bag for IKEA has caused a frenzy of panic buying.

He came to the studio where the prototype of the FRAKTA bag was born, redrawn the FRAKTA bag, and turned it into beige, and finally gave birth to the well-known SCULPTURE handbag.

The fashion field has begun to focus on IKEA's FRAKTA bag.

Balenciaga launched a product almost identical to the FRAKTA bag in 2017, but the price was 14,390 yuan, which caused a huge public controversy.

Fortunately, the designer of this Balenciaga bag took the initiative to say that he was indeed inspired by IKEA's classic FRAKTA bag to make this bag.

Yes, a bag that removes the IKEA logo and increases the price by more than 2,000 times.

Everyone was full of question marks for a while, choked up speechlessly, and then reflected: Can Balenciaga be able to do this? Why can't I?

As a result, a wave of national transformation of FRAKTA bags began to set off.

FRAKTA bags are cut into countless shapes and turned into hats, sneakers, fanny packs, tracksuits, masks…

IKEA itself did not miss this trend, not only did it release a KNORVA bucket hat:

The tutorial "How to Identify a Real FRAKTA Bag" was published online:

1. Shake it – if it rusts, it's a real bag.
2. Versatile – it can carry hockey gear, bricks, and even water.
3. Throw it in the dirt – a real FRAKTA bag just needs to be flushed with a garden hose when it gets dirty.
4. Fold it – can you fold it into a small wallet? If you can, then congratulations, this is the real package.
5. Take a look inside – the originals all bear the IKEA label.
6. Price tag – only $0.99 (2017).

We also prepared a set of official DIY tutorials to teach you how to make everything "FRAKTA".

When the craze passed, all kinds of modified FRAKTA bags were spread around, and the original FRAKTA bag was still the one that stayed with me for a long time.

It has become a trend phenomenon, which seems to come from various viral transmissions, but in fact, it comes from the long-standing brand culture of IKEA.

After the realization of cost-effective and high-quality functions, the IKEA brand itself has also gained more people's support. After that, creativity and inspiration are only its plus points.

From the longevity of FRAKTA bags, we can see the changes and constants behind the popularity of IKEA and even Swedish design.

Reality + creativity = everyday good product

Spotify (music platform), Candy Crush (consumer music), Skype (communication software), ABBA (band group)…

These iconic "pop culture manufacturing platforms" are actually from Sweden.

They did not become popular for a while, but to meet a certain type of pain point demand, and then under the opportunity of the digital age, a pop culture phenomenon was formed.

This time, IKEA has teamed up with the mafia Swedish House Mafia, and it feels like a fusion of solutions and pop culture.

Music is also closely related to lifestyle and is an everyday but extremely personal experience. As IKEA designer Friso Wiersma said , music and design, like design, can truly create a space, as a manifestation of one's identity, value, and through They express their opinions on the world.

Behind these "blackened products", both practicality and new expressions of free creation are considered.

Among them, the subtle grasp of balance is actually the same style of IKEA – modern but not chasing fashion, practical but not lacking in novelty.

In fact, this is also an ancient tradition in Swedish home furnishing.

When the world's earliest craft design association (Svensk Form, the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design) was born, the chairman of the association, Gregor Paulsson, established the principle of "designer's commitment to society" :

Design should enter every person, every day, and everything in society.

That is to say, no matter rich or poor, regardless of class, every Swedish citizen should be able to use well-designed products in their lives.

To put it simply, it is against showing off wealth, against inferiority, and against excessive consumption.

Building on this foundation, at the end of the 19th century, artists Carl Lasson and Karin Larsson combined classical style with Swedish folk to create a model of Swedish home design.

When modernism and pragmatism entered Sweden after that, they still maintained the real and human-centered concepts of "simple, moderate, and natural", and then carried out design innovation and gameplay creativity.

To this end, it is necessary to think ahead and do how to minimize the cost of materials, how to make the most efficient manufacturing, how to make the product more durable and sustainable….

Only then can good products enter the lives of more ordinary people.

When over-consumption, over-packaging, pursuit of correctness, and slogans become the norm of current consumption, we may be able to return to the beginning——

Keep the same, create the change.

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