111–120 of 246 posts
I grew up with our basement library as Billies and knew that I could trust them and also when I got more books over time, that I could just buy more of the same and not worry about mismatching.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Regarding your point 2 - have you been to an Ikea recently? No, I haven't. Thanks for the update! > about the look, well, that's just subjective taste, isn't it? I think I wasn't clear enough. I don't complain about quality/look: what I don't like is the standardisation! As soon as you see something from IKEA, you know it's from IKEA.
For many, that standardization is a feature rather than bug. I really like that I can mix and match anything and have it look visually consistent. I am a big fan of the products although I build them slightly nonstandard (extra lag screws, wood glue on all surfaces, VHB tape to affix to wall).
I understand that's a completely different world, but the idea is that you can have consistency in your whole house without giving up the possibility of choosing what fits your taste more.
There's a disconnect when I look at the price of good furniture compared to products that are insanely more complicated (laptops, smartphones), heavier than furniture (motorbikes, snowblowers, lawnmowers), as bulky as flatpack bookcases (big screen TVs), and need to be shipped even greater distances than furniture (all my examples would be coming to the U.S. from Asia). Furthermore, furniture has much less regulation…
For a TV most of the materials and components are either plastic (and thus light and cheap) or generic silica based stuff that is produced in batches of millions at a time (electronic components) in the blink of an eye. The most expensive parts of a TV are probably its screen (complexity) and the copper wiring (cost of material).
With a wood table the production of all parts takes much more labour, and high quality wood furniture is usually made of parts that have exact measurements and specifications for that particular model of table. Wood is also a live material; no two pieces are alike (this holds true from the unprocessed logs to the finished table legs). Lumber also needs time to acclimatize, so the whole resources to product cycle takes a lot longer (increasing storage costs).
Also, unless you are Ikea, a globally operating corporation can sell a lot more TVs than dining tables.
There's a disconnect when I look at the price of good furniture compared to products that are insanely more complicated (laptops, smartphones), heavier than furniture (motorbikes, snowblowers, lawnmowers), as bulky as flatpack bookcases (big screen TVs), and need to be shipped even greater distances than furniture (all my examples would be coming to the U.S. from Asia). Furthermore, furniture has much less regulation…
It's just scale. Only a really really good designer can make furniture good enough to look and function better than mass produced. It takes time and their production runs are typically limited to at most double digits a year. These people will not work for a pittance and being intelligent and motivated would move on to other work if they can't earn well. All this conspires to make a market where few people are good e…
I have bought several of these things. They fall apart. Truly disposable furniture.
There's a disconnect when I look at the price of good furniture compared to products that are insanely more complicated (laptops, smartphones), heavier than furniture (motorbikes, snowblowers, lawnmowers), as bulky as flatpack bookcases (big screen TVs), and need to be shipped even greater distances than furniture (all my examples would be coming to the U.S. from Asia). Furthermore, furniture has much less regulation…
It's the economy of scale; complexity is mostly a one time upfront cost. Once you've figured out how to efficiently make a hundred TVs at a time, you know how to make a million. For a TV most of the materials and components are either plastic (and thus light and cheap) or generic silica based stuff that is produced in batches of millions at a time (electronic components) in the blink of an eye. The most expensive par…
So why aren't there more globally operating corporations selling furniture?
Could there be an opportunity for a higher-end (better than Ikea) highly-automated global furniture maker to take away market from thousands of small local furniture makers all over the world?
> Ingvar Kamprad "is said to fly economy and drive an old Volvo. This frugality may help to explain why he is the world's eighth-richest man - although the four decades he spent living in Switzerland to avoid Swedish taxes may also have something to do with it."
For a significant part of that interval, Swedish taxes were in excess of 100% for very high earners. Can one blame him?
> The Billy innovations are about working within the limits of production and logistics, finding tiny ways to shave more off the cost, all while producing something that looks inoffensive and does the job. The perfect summary of Ikea's engineering. I got into woodworking recently; designed and built a 50", full-back garden bench from scratch in redwood. The project gave me a more keen awareness of the wood that surro…
They have solid wood options, but you have to hunt for them. Also, they tend to up the price and it's "fancier" looking. Your comment makes me wish I had the space to get back into woodworking, but I just bought Ikea today because it fits into a small car and apartment easily.
I should know. I've been there a lot recently.
Some are flimsy, but easily fixed with a few cheap parts from the hardware store. You can also get most things in a natural finish so you can paint it yourself.
There's a disconnect when I look at the price of good furniture compared to products that are insanely more complicated (laptops, smartphones), heavier than furniture (motorbikes, snowblowers, lawnmowers), as bulky as flatpack bookcases (big screen TVs), and need to be shipped even greater distances than furniture (all my examples would be coming to the U.S. from Asia). Furthermore, furniture has much less regulation…
The real reason is simply that nobody wants it.
The machinery/etc exists to make it completely trivial to productionize semi-custom and completely custom furniture, out of high quality wood.
From 5-axis CNC to multi-angle boring machines to what have you.
Heck, with the copy of alphacam i have, i could program pretty much most of a factory.
(and it doesn't need to acclimate, it's kiln dried. You just keep your factory at the same humidity as the climate it's going to. Even then, most of the issues you hit are around finishing and solvable).
Your biggest underlying problem, again, contrary to the comments, is actually that real high quality lumber is not a sheet good.
For for tops/etc, you have to spend the machining time to make it one (IE automatically plane/cut/join, then machine).
Doable, but it entails some cost.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That struck me too: Are there leading modern entrepreneurs who are as non-materialistic? I recall hearing of several in prior generations. (Also, sometimes those stories are merely marketing, and they have a personal chef and private jet too.)
In the case of Kamprad, it is definitely merely marketing. He hates paying taxes, and used the same passion for optimizing furniture to optimize his company structure. IKEA is one of the most complicated legal tax-evasion structures around. It is believed that a few percent of the worldwide revenue - not profits! - are going straight into Ingvar's pockets, tax-free. That's quite a feat.
I think you mean tax avoidance.