Have you noticed the recent 'blacking out' of IKEA?
Not only has the blue and yellow logo gone black, but the IKEA blue bag (FRAKTA bag), which is a hand-me-down, has also gone black.
1. Woven bag.
2. Computer bag.
3. Toolkit.
And that's just the beginning.
Just yesterday afternoon, at 2022 Milan Design Week, IKEA let its lifestyle product line go black.
"Blacked out" Ikea, the popular "black bag"
This 'blacked out' new product features over 20 pieces of lifestyle home furnishings.
In addition to the previously announced FRAKTA bag, three more have been newly revealed, and they dubbed the "Obegränsad series".
Separately, a vinyl record player.
IKEA pushing a vinyl record player? It sounds a bit surprising, but the reasoning isn't.
They launched this vinyl record player with the original intention that more people could enjoy better quality music at a lower price.
It looks square and chunky, and whether it's in an Ikea mall or your living room, the style will immediately rub off on you.
And an armchair.
It looks sharp and clean with strong lines, it just seems to ...... pinch a bit.
And finally, a table.
It doesn't look much different from a regular table, but the table top is wide enough to hold not only musical instruments, but also more modules for other small things.
All 20 new products, which will not be announced until the September launch, cover a wide range of lifestyle products such as furniture, accessories and tools.
You may be wondering why this new batch of IKEA products are all black.
It starts with the Mafia (Swedish House Mafia).
The Mafia, originally a secret society group originating in Italy, commonly known as the mob, became the name of a legendary Swedish electro duo in 2008.
The band has been a global sensation for less than three years, hitting the Top 10 on the UK Pop Gold/U.S. Dance charts, reaching #10 on the DJ MAG Top 100, and being a Grammy nominee.
The bad news is that the band broke up in 2012. The good news is that the band reunited again in 2018.
IKEA is eyeing this wild and free band this time to deliver the band's infectious and creative energy to more people's lives.
In fact, during the epidemic, people became spending more time in their own homes and listening to music and singing became part of their daily relief and soothing, a report by a charity had shown that 85% of people said music made them feel soothed and happy at home.
This makes it logical for IKEA to cross over into the music space.
Although the 'blacked out products' have not been fully announced yet, of the two new waves that have been launched, there is nothing hotter than the 'blacked out' FRAKTA bag.
These three packs focus on practicality in addition to creativity, while keeping music and home bound together in both design and spirit.
In the beginning, these three bags were inspired by the painful experience of the Mafia having to lug cables, connectors, laptops, accessories and even vinyl records around on their travels, where everything gets messy and they end up exhausted.
Thus, the first FRAKTA-inspired woven bag, large enough to hold up to 100 vinyl records and folded into a carry bag to take with you.
It also has thicker woven straps, which IKEA says are comparable in quality to car seat belts, and seems stronger and more durable.
Another duffel bag for your laptop, and some simple clothing, this is probably the best bag to carry for everyday travel as well.
A small bag at the end would be very powerful for storage.
The phone, charger, charging cable, and headphones ...... all fit neatly and orderly inside.
These three packs, for music creators, provide ample space for all kinds of musical instruments, and for the general public, pretty much encompass all scenarios in our homes and on the go, and also cater to different functions and different styles of personalities.
It's really no surprise that the FRAKTA bag is the most talked about bag in the public eye.
After all, the FRAKTA bag has always been one of the products that best represent the spirit of IKEA.
FRAKTA Bag "The Making of a Madman"
FRAKTA, which means 'freight' in Swedish.
True to its name, it's a bag that can hold almost any household item.
The 1960s, is when the bag was born - that's when IKEA had just opened its first store in Amholt ( Almbult) created its first IKEA store and began selling an increasing number of smaller furniture items.
Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, observed more than 10 malls and found that when people shop, they often push big trolleys to pay for their purchases, but because only small plastic baskets or bags are provided there, many people will put down some big items halfway and just buy something small to take home.
▲ IKEA's new store in Kungens Kurva in the 1960s, image from: ikeamuseum
What they had to buy, they would pay for and carry away in their arms, but this made their shopping trip not only onerous, but awkward to carry on the way home.
So, IKEA decided to make a big shopping bag - FRAKTA.
In the beginning, the FRAKTA pack was only available in yellow.
▲ Image from: ikeamuseum
It can be carried on the shoulder, hung on a trolley, or carried around.
It wasn't easy to decide on the size of the bag - Lars Göran Peterson, head of purchasing at IKEA, and LGP measured almost everything we can carry in our lives before finally working out the best size for the FRAKTA bag.
IKEA searched around for manufacturers and finally found a suitable one in Taiwan. They could make one that was big enough to roll into a small package, but also strong enough to carry 50 kg.
The Taiwanese factory owner took out the polypropylene material used to make the rice bags, then got a 50kg girl in the office to stand in the bag, then they each took a handle on one side of the bag and lifted it up - securely and without breaking!
That's how the FRAKTA shopping bag started to be produced.
At checkout, IKEA will sell FRAKTA shopping bags for a very low price of a few bucks so that customers can take things home with these large bags and be able to reuse them again and again.
IKEA has always been a brand that is not very advertising and marketing, which can be seen from the birth of the FRAKTA shopping bag.
There were tens of millions of bags in town, used by football coaches for equipment, by farmers for apple picking, and by hipsters for pet rides.
When the bag can be seen everywhere on the street, in the supermarket, at the beach, they have an immediate consensus: oh, it's IKEA.
For IKEA, it is probably the customer who is the best vehicle for brand communication.
But in 1989, when the first yellow FRAKTA bags were tested in IKEA stores in Germany, there was a big confusion: the staff couldn't identify which bags were unpaid and which were paid for, and the solution later was - make another bag in a different color.
Thus, the blue FRAKTA bag, which continues to this day, emerged.
▲ Image from: ikeamuseum
Later, only the blue FRAKTA bags could be sold and the yellow FRAKTA bags had to stay in the shops, which made everything much easier.
Today, millions of FRAKTA bags are sold around the world every year, and new orders are constantly being placed for them.
Large capacity, good quality, cost effectiveness, sustainability and long service life are the reasons for its popularity.
This is also in line with IKEA's philosophy that 'high quality should not be for the rich only'.
Perhaps the FRAKTA bag itself did not foresee that it is now no longer a mere shopping bag, but a cultural symbol of IKEA.
When a shopping bag, becomes a new trend
The popularity of the FRAKTA bag has a lot to do with the fact that it hits a pain point in most people's lives.
And it became a popular way to do so thanks to the fresh topics and creative play that IKEA continues to create.
In 2016, IKEA had several designers create a few limited edition/flash edition bags inspired by the FRAKTA bag.
▲ IKEA X HAY Collaboration FRAKTA Bag
They are mostly the same material and size, but have different colors and patterns.
The FRAKTA bag is a collaboration between IKEA and Rolf and Mette Hay.
Off-White founder Virgil Abloh's FRAKTA bag, reimagined for Ikea, has been the subject of a rush.
He went to the atelier where the prototype of the FRAKTA bag was born and took the FRAKTA bag, redrew the sketch and turned it into beige, eventually giving birth to the famous SCULPTURE handbag.
The fashion world is getting on IKEA's FRAKTA bag.
Parisian House sparked a huge public controversy in 2017 when it released a product almost identical to the FRAKTA bag, but for $14,390.
Luckily the designer of this Parisian bag came forward and said that he was indeed inspired by IKEA's classic FRAKTA bag to make this bag.
Yes, a bag that went up in price over 2,000 times by removing the IKEA logo.
Everyone was momentarily filled with questions, speechless, and then reflecting: if this works for Parisienne? Why not me?
And so, a wave of universal FRAKTA bag makeovers began to take off.
FRAKTA bags are cut into countless shapes and turned into hats, sneakers, fanny packs, sweatshirts, masks ......
IKEA itself hasn't missed the trend, releasing not only a KNORVA fisherman's hat of its own: the
A tutorial on "How to spot a real FRAKTA bag" was posted online at
- Shake it - if it rustles, it's a real bag.
- Versatile - It can carry hockey equipment, bricks, and even water.
- throw it in the dirt - a real FRAKTA bag can simply be rinsed with a garden hose when it gets dirty.
- fold it - can you fold it into a small purse? If you can, then congratulations, it's a real bag.
- Look inside - genuine products come with the IKEA label.
- price tag - just $0.99 (2017)
There is also an official DIY tutorial on how to make everything "FRAKTA".
When the craze has passed and the various FRAKTA bags have been spread around, the original FRAKTA bag is still the one that stays around for a long time.
It has become a trendy phenomenon, seemingly from various viral communications, but in fact, it essentially comes from the long-standing brand culture of IKEA.
After achieving features that are cost effective and at the same time high quality, the IKEA brand itself has gained a wider following, after which creativity and inspiration are just its plus points.
▲Reebok released fitness video showing you how to do workouts with Frakta shopping bags
From the enduring popularity of the FRAKTA bag, we can see the changes and constants behind the popularity of IKEA, and even Swedish design.
Solid + creative = good everyday product
Spotify (music platform), Candy Crush (elimination game), Skype (communication software), ABBA (band group) ......
These highly iconic 'pop culture making platforms' are actually all from Sweden.
They didn't catch fire on a whim, but rather met a certain type of pain point need, and subsequently formed a pop culture phenomenon in the digital age.
This time, IKEA and the mafia Swedish House Mafia have collaborated in a sort of solution and pop culture fusion.
Music is also tied to lifestyle, an everyday but extremely personal experience, as IKEA designer Friso Wiersma says, music like design, can truly create a space that serves as a reflection of one's identity, values, and through them, one's own opinion about the world.
Behind these 'blackened products' are both practical considerations and freely created new expressions.
The subtlety of the balance is in fact a constant in IKEA's style - modern but not trendy, practical but not uninspiring.
In fact, this is an old tradition in Swedish homes.
The world's first craft design society, the Svensk Form, the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design, was born when its president, Gregor Paulsson, [established the principle of "the designer's commitment to society"] ( https://www.sohu.com/a/110081116_116897).
Design should enter everyone, every day, everything in society.
That means that every Swedish citizen, regardless of wealth and class, should be able to live with well-designed products.
Simply put, anti-flattery, anti-shitty, anti-overconsumption.
▲Southern Sweden Design Day's exhibition Matter Displaced. image via: Dezeen
Building on this foundation, at the end of the 19th century, artists Carl Lasson and Karin Larsson combined classical style with Swedish folklore to create a model of Swedish home design.
▲ Home of Carl Lasson and Karin Larsson. Photo from: visitsweden
When modernism and pragmatism entered Sweden again afterwards, they still kept the real, human-centered ideas such as 'simplicity, moderation and nature', and then proceeded with the innovation of design and the creativity of play.
To do this, it is necessary to consider and achieve in advance how to minimize the cost of materials, how to manufacture most efficiently, and how to make products more durable and sustainable .......
Then, good products can enter the lives of more ordinary people.
As over-consumption, over-packaging, the quest to be right, and sloganeering become the norm for consumption today, we can perhaps go back to the beginning -
Keep those that remain the same and create those that change.