Let's Swap Flat-packing for Suitcase-packing
A few weeks ago the news was full of obituaries for one of my retail heroes, the Swedish founder IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad. Ikea is retail Marmite; for some, the mere mention of the name sends shudders down the spine, but for others it’s the happy prospect of a half day spent meandering round the shop’s curious (and rigorously enforced) one-way-system, followed by several hours fiddling with an Allen key, whilst nursing a bad back and trying to avoid a family bust up. Love it or loathe it (and I love it), IKEA turned furniture retailing on its head and brought Scandinavian design into the reach of millions of customers, continuing its entrepreneurial style through the decades and always staying ahead of the curve. So, when IKEA’s head of sustainability claimed last year that we’ve reached ‘peak stuff’ it struck a chord with me. Stuff, clutter, call it what you like, there’s a growing sense that too many things are crowding into our lives and our thinking. I’ve just been introduc...