Ikea’s big blue and yellow buildings are recognisable around the world, but the future stores of the Swedish furniture giant could look very different. Speaking about the important responsibility retailers have to drive societal change, Carla Cammilla Hjort, co-founder of Ikea’s global innovation lab, Space 10, shared how Ikea is looking at introducing maker spaces or in-store factories that produce goods on demand as a more sustainable form of retail. “You can do it with
t with local available materials and you can use the same little mini factory as a place to repair and recycle. I think that’s a new way of thinking about it, so you [don’t need to] produce millions of products in China that are then shipped around the world and put into storage or fulfillment centres,” she said.
“The earth is circular, so let’s treat it like that.”
With an aim to “create a better everyday life for people and the planet”, Space 10 has spent the last five years finding potential solutions to major environmental issues, such as tackling climate change with the development of innovative and practical products.
“We make better things rather than new things, in my opinion at least,” said Hjort, leading a Retail Week masterclass on ‘How organisations can thrive in a new era of instability’.
The global research and design lab is responsible for some groundbreaking projects that have garnered the attention of global media and sparked conversations about the potential future of Ikea.
One such innovation is the Grow Room – a structure for growing fresh food which was open sourced. After creating a prototype, Space 10 incorporated elements of digital fabrication and distributed manufacturing to allow consumers worldwide to create their own.
“It was really designed with only one material so that it could be cut on a CNC machine which you can find in any local makerSpace. It has no screws, you only needed two rubber hammers to put it together,” Hjort explained.
“Anyone can download the drawings for free … print [their] own grow room and start growing [their] own food.”
Space 10 has also created urban farms with adjoining salad bars, a Bee Home to help consumers do their part to help bee reproduction, and has explored alternative ingredients to produce more environmentally-friendly versions of Ikea’s infamous meatballs.
Ikea is incorporating many of the innovations into its own business, with plans to introduce vertical farms at all stores in the coming years. A vegetarian meatball has already hit the menu.
Taking the time to play
Hjort says while issues relating to the environment are very serious, adopting a more playful approach to these projects is what gets consumers interested. It’s definitely not about shaming them for any decisions they may have made, she explained.
“We take this playful approach. We always try to build a hopeful future, something to aspire to and make it fun,” she said.
Hjort shared the importance of creating a communal and collaborative environment in which young minds can thrive.
“In my opinion, today, the sharpest minds want to work for companies that do something they feel is meaningful, not only for them but for the planet.”
In order to be truly innovative, Hjort believes people need to be given the freedom to be rebels.
“I often say the first thing that needs to change is that we need to become really passionate about these subjects and then we need to dare to be radical,” she said.
“Often [employees] feel they don’t have the agency or the support from C level. So it’s about getting out of the fear of losing your job or getting into tricky situations and saying … ‘This is bigger than me.’ You have to create that rebel spirit so that you can, inside the company, start moving the needle and really challenging the thinking.”
To create entirely new business concepts, Hjort said “it’s not about what we did today or yesterday”.
“We often hear from Ikea that we should never stop being rebels.”