Learning from IKEA Hacking: “Iʼm Not One to Decoupage a Tabletop and Call It a Day.”

An IKEA chair before and after hacking.

Summary:

Daniela Rosner and Jonathan Bean (UC Berkeley) are interested in IKEA Hackers- people who use IKEA products to make new, customizable things. Because these hackers share their ideas and creativity online with others, they are promoting CHI via the DIY community.

IKEA is the source and inspiration for these hackers for a few reasons. First, IKEA furniture is aesthetically pleasing to them, thus allowing them to create art along with functional things. Second, IKEA is cheap. Some of the hackers surveyed treated IKEA like a hardware store for raw materials instead of full products. This also lets hackers feel more at ease about cutting pieces up and going against instructions, thus allowing them to make just what they need for a given place or problem.

In terms of using technology, IKEA hackers often place their concepts and changes online. Many websites, such as Instructables.com and IKEAHacker.com, offer opportunities for hackers to share their new instructions and techniques with others. The sense of community online lets the hackers feel like they belong and keeps them motivated to create. The authors note that people are merging computer terms (such as hacking and programming) and physical items (IKEA furniture) to create a wholly unique CHI experience and culture. In their words,

"...DIY culture is moving the workshop from the garage to the
web forum."

Discussion:
I'm a member of Instructables.com, and can testify to the craziness and awesomeness of tweaking products and designs to make new things. I have a bookshelf made out of Tetrominoes in my bedroom that I found a guide for of the site. With the exception of the creepy gyno chair that sits on the first page of this article, I found it to be really cool. Now as for the people interviewed... they seem a little out there. But what artist or sculptor isn't?