
Chop and change: Hacking is making its way to furniture - rbanffy
https://www.1843magazine.com/design/chop-and-change
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michaelbuckbee
It was weird to me that they mentioned Ikea all over the place, but not Ikea
Hackers:

[http://www.ikeahackers.net/](http://www.ikeahackers.net/)

Which I think is really interesting, sure there's some kind of obvious things
in there, but also some really genuinely useful ones as well.

For example, I quite like this Ikea Pax to Synth station build:
[http://www.ikeahackers.net/2017/06/pax-synth-
workstation.htm...](http://www.ikeahackers.net/2017/06/pax-synth-
workstation.html)

~~~
camtarn
It's mentioned, very briefly: "Until recently IKEA was a bit uppity about
hacking: its lawyers sent cease-and-desist letters to websites like
Ikeahackers.net that innocently collated techniques."

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jaclaz
TL;DR: We believe that millennials and their money are easily parted.

> In 2016 Vitra, a high-end Swiss furniture company, unveiled Hack, a modular
> desk designed by Konstantin Grcic. Made of chipboard panels that slot into
> aluminium brackets, its £2,557 ($4,775) price tag sits awkwardly with its
> knocked-up-in-a-garage aesthetic – but, as with Delaktig, this
> unfinishedness is deliberate.

I believe also the name and price tag are very deliberate.

>The “flexible and dynamic” desk can be adjusted in height, folded up, turned
into a sofa, drilled into and sawn.

Just like £ 25.57 each chipboard panels.

~~~
hayksaakian
The price tag is designed to make you appear creative to your rich friends
without actually needing to be creative

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danohu
Something I would love to see is an open-source attitude entering into the
furniture manufacture ecosystem.

What Ikea sells you is, essentially:

a) a set of instructions for making furniture out of basic components b) those
components, produced and distributed through a highly-efficient supply chain

So break those two apart! Let hobbyists and carpenters share or sell their
furniture designs. Just specify the components in a standard way, so suppliers
can compete to supply the components for each design.

So you turn a monolithic business into one where smaller groups can compete on
each part of the system. One company can cheaply supply cut wood in Seattle,
another just sells its funky shelving designs without worrying about the
infrastructure.

Most bits of this ecosystem already exist -- the furniture-making hobbyists,
the DIY stores, the suppliers of nails and screws. They just need a bit of
systemisation (and marketing) to pull them together into a system that can
compete with a monolithic supply chain.

~~~
sejunpark
I agree! You can check out [http://www.aalo.co/](http://www.aalo.co/).
Disclosure: this is a startup I founded, with the same intention of what you
just mentionted above. Shameless plug :).

General public (especially the millennials) have better knowledge and insights
about good design and it has become much more democratic. The problem is that
millennials just don't have as much money to spend on furniture, let alone a
space to put them in. Ikea's Delaktig line is definitely a step in the right
direction, but it still can't provide the level of freedom that "Ikea Hack"
does.

I believe the answer lies in a system that provides the basic structure, which
lets the individuals design and build on top of it. This way, you can achieve
designs that are more unique, multi-functional, and affordable.

~~~
draker
My first impression was that it's basically cast iron pipe designs,
implemented with your custom components. Not a bad idea, especially as the
pieces are more streamlined (slip in elbows) but doesn't really hit me as a
real "system".

On your "about us" or product page you should do a small write-up about that
actual materials and components. Basically, how is this different or better
than cast iron pipe or Klee clamps?

I'd really like to know if your system can support significant weight because
most of the designs (except for the garment rack) are small structures that
you would expect to hold only 10-20 lbs. I would guess from the weight and
dimensions of the garment rack you are using 1-1/4 OD x .065 wall aluminum
round tube.

~~~
sejunpark
Thanks for the feedback!

Our goal in terms of functionality, is to make it easier for people to enjoy
the versatility of pipe fittings (Kee Clamps, FitzKitz) and slotted extrusions
(80/20, Minitec) while providing a seamless design better suited for living
spaces.

As you suggested, it'll definitely help us to have a better explanation of our
materials and structural integrity. I'll work on updating the information :)

Right now our components are designed to widthstand similar loads as a 1"x1"
T-slotted aluminum framing system, and it's been a fun but difficult challenge
to make it more cost efficient and user friendly.

You seem like you have very good knowledge of building materials and furniture
making in general! Would love to have you on our beta creator group so you can
give us even more feedback as we develop the product. Thanks!

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wccrawford
> You “hack” the sofa by adding armrests or a back cushion or a footstool,
> depending on whether you feel like owning a chaise longue or an L-shaped
> three-seater. You can invest in a clip-on reading lamp or a stone side table
> or a fluffy cover made of Icelandic sheepskin, and exchange them for new
> ones when you get bored.

It's not "hacking" when it's deliberately designed to work like that.

>Hacking is making its way to furniture

It's not like this is new. People have been modifying Ikea furniture in
particular for quite a long time now. And modifying furniture in general for
centuries.

~~~
pnutjam
Lovesac makes a sactional that is similar to this, customizable, not hackable.

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peterwwillis
I wish there were layman-friendly guides to building furniture and a
nationwide initiative to pair home improvement stores with tool libraries. If
you want to save money and have quality furniture, building it yourself is the
way to go, but good luck if you don't have your own wood shop.

You should be able to build most modular furniture using two power tools, some
jigs, and raw materials. It's sad that this isn't a common thing.

~~~
mholmes680
re: laymen-friendly guides: [http://www.ana-
white.com/plancatalog](http://www.ana-white.com/plancatalog)

I recently had to buy an entire house's worth of furniture due to a fire. We
shopped every store we could find, and apart from any store that sources from
the Amish, its all crap. The prices are obscene. We also got to see the
innards of the old burned furniture... there's so much chip-board and
laminating that I think there must be more plastic/glue than wood fiber. Just
like electronics are being designed with obsolescence as a requirement, maybe
more so is the furniture in your house...

Its so much more rewarding to build a giant custom table and be able to grunt,
"hey look what i did". OR even pick up some older pieces at an estate sale and
upcycle with a new varnish or paint and some modifications.

~~~
draker
The Ana white designs are okay for something short term but are prone to
problems due to using _only_ pocket screws and construction grade lumber.
Veneered particle board would actually outlast from a construction perspective
as it's less prone to expansion/contraction.

Table tops will warp if you just screw the boards together and to the base.
You can avoid this by gluing the panels then attaching to base with proper
fasteners to allow for expansion/contraction.

You can build them properly but this requires using true edge s4s lumber or
removing the dimensional round edge with a table saw, band saw or jointer.
Your glue up then requires a good number of large clamps. Even out of poplar,
adler or basswood which are cheaper hardwoods you'll have $250-$300 in the
table. Oak would be $500+.

>there's so much chip-board and laminating that I think there must be more
plastic/glue than wood fiber. Just like electronics are being designed with
obsolescence as a requirement, maybe more so is the furniture in your house

The problem is people want things cheap and nice looking. You can get a solid
white oak table from Crate and Barrel for $1500; which isn't really that bad
considering that's around $750 in ready to go s4s lumber from a mail order
supplier. It's a lot cheaper to do as Ikea did and have a particle core with a
1/8" oak 'veneer'. Ikea's table is $600.

~~~
mholmes680
yeah, but marking it "rustic" solves all my rough-looking problems :) The
warping is definitely happening, but my table is also an outdoor patio table
so its fine in this case. Thanks for advice though... will help on later
projects.

I would like to get some time back this winter and make some inside pieces.. I
agree with the pocket screws, but I think I can get around some of that with a
joiner. I feel like a joiner and planer are the next tools I will invest in.

>>people want things cheap and nice looking

I agree 1000% but, after the aforementioned fire, I personally have a new
perspective. "Collecting" things is way below being able to say I invested in
myself/family and built something.

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pasbesoin
Inexpensive IKEA furniture means I have no compunction e.g. cutting legs to
get the correct typing/working height.

That said, a lot of IKEA furniture does not have the most dense/durable wood.
Hacking's one thing. Big bucks for the finished hacks, is likely still getting
you something that's not that durable, especially if exposed to any
considerable wear and tear.

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teddyh
_hacker: n._

 _[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]_

([http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/hacker.html](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/hacker.html))

