University student David Abouaf might create the next must-have piece at IKEA: a lounge chair that folds into a couch.
Abouaf and students in an interior architecture class worked on furniture designs modeled after the Swedish furniture retailer IKEA on Monday in the department’s wood shop – known as the laboratory of furniture design – on the north side of campus.
In the class, IKEA furniture serves as an inspiration and starting point as students flip through the store’s catalog, said assistant professor Esther Hagenlocher. The students “re-mix” the design and make it their own.
Students may consider IKEA when designing their own piece. IKEA typically designs affordable, modern furniture that can be mass produced. Some of the company’s furniture may also have multiple uses.
“We study IKEA because there’s a lot of good design, but that design is universal and generic,” Hagenlocher said. “We’d like to take that aspect out and say, ‘How would this look if I made it?’”
Hagenlocher said the class looks at furniture and the culture surrounding it.
“A good design is like a good book,” he said. “It’s going out there and talking to the world.”
Students design and construct their own pieces in a wood shop and must test and evaluate their furniture after receiving feedback from other students.
Interior architecture student Jennie Hagenberger, who is designing a storage unit of shelves, said the final piece will help add to her portfolio when applying for jobs.
“The most exciting thing to me is that I get to actually take something home at the end of the term,” she said.
The furniture design class is a popular course that revolves around different themes, Hagenlocher said. When students signed up for the class, they had no idea they’d be studying the furniture of IKEA for 10 weeks.
“This could be a one-time thing,” Hagenlocher said. “We might repeat it, but it’s not planned out right now.”
The class is the first of its kind in the country to focus on IKEA, company spokeswoman April Minister said.
Hagenlocher brainstormed the idea after she arrived at the Portland airport and saw the IKEA store on the corner of Airport Way and Interstate 205. The Portland store, which opened in July 2007, reminded Hagenlocher of Europe, where she is from.
“IKEA is so much part of the design culture there,” she said. “When I arrived here over the summer at the Portland airport, I thought, ‘Wow, IKEA is here.’”
She said she discovered that Oregonians weren’t familiar with IKEA’s designs, and she became interested in how the store’s arrival would change design attitudes in the state.
After Hagenlocher called the Portland store for a catalog, the company offered to help, Minister said.
Since then, company officials have lectured at the University, and students have visited the Portland IKEA and are planning another visit Friday.
Abouaf said visiting the store helped him understand the store better. He said he was surprised that the store has imaginary rooms set up for particular people – children or a family, for example.
“There’s even photos of kids on the wall,” Abouaf said. “It’s kind of creepy.”
Students are also studying the company itself, Hagenlocher said, because they must keep in mind that as furniture designers, they will have to consider administrative aspects.
“If they want to be in furniture design as part of their architecture profession, they have to produce something that can be multiplied and marketed,” Hagenlocher said.
The class also discusses the balance between design and sales numbers, environmental responsibilities and employee conditions, Hagenlocher said. The class questions whether or not one universal design can serve every culture.
Hagenlocher said the class focuses more on the company’s product, though.
“This is not a business class. This is a design class,” Hagenlocher said, adding she wants to take advantage of the wood shop. “That would not use the facilities we have here very well. But we definitely don’t want to ignore the business aspect.”
For IKEA, the class provides a way to reach students – and customers.
Minister said the company wants to educate the public about IKEA.
“We’re flattered, first off,” Minister said. “We’re very proud of our design, and to see that a program as well thought-of as the University of Oregon’s interior architecture program would even consider focusing on us is fabulous. We’re always looking to reach out to our customers down in Eugene.”
Minister said thousands travel from the Eugene-Springfield area to shop at the Portland IKEA.
Most of all, the class gives students a chance to design an actual product, Hagenlocher said.
“Of course I’m always interested in connecting the University to the real world,” Hagenlocher said.
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