Another Swedish design classic

While I’m having a go at the Swedes (see last blog), I’d like to return to my rant about the nasty Ikea-esque plywood centre stack on the refreshed Volvo S40. It was (they tell us) inspired by that ‘Swedish design classic’, the plywood chair. That’s the hideous plywood chair you’d typically find languishing in the bargain basement of Ikea, near the check-out.

I’d like to pretend I’ve never stooped to buying an Ikea bargain myself, but that would be a lie. I bought a lamp there, for about £15, took it home and assembled it. It was very straightforward except for the warning about how NOT to assemble it. Presumably it would be dangerous to do it that way; but I couldn’t for the life of me see what I wasn’t supposed to do. There was a black-and-white drawing of the misassembled lamp and above it – in the sort of bold typeface which suggests your life is at risk – the word NOT.

There was really only a stand, a bulb and a plug: there aren’t many ways to get it wrong. I showed the diagram to several friends, and none of them could see the lurking danger of which Ikea was warning me. It was about a week before I realised that the lamp was called a NOT. Of all the stupid, irritating, idiotic…