Everything is Hackable, Including Furniture


If it’s fast and stackable, it’s hackable. That includes IKEA and West Elm, too.

It’s been a good week for hackers. The internet collective known as Anonymous hacked some 70 law enforcement websites and the Syrian Defense Ministry. Even the New York Times Op-Ed page was kinda sorta (but not really) hacked.

It is in the same cyber spirit – interestingly its own branch of DIY – that we investigated some design hacks, namely fast furniture getting a slow upgrade.

Like this find from Green Upgrader, IKEA legs strapped to a scavenged wood pallet.

Nice.

It turns out that there’s an entire blog dedicated to IKEA hacks called IKEA Hackers. Very search engine friendly. Like Anonymous, their modus is to crowd source their hacks from all over the web rather than go it alone out of a dark living room in Encino.

So goes their mission statement: “We hack, personalize, repurpose IKEA products into the very thing we want.”

This bench is made entirely out of LACK coffee tables sourced from Craigslist.

The hacker, who goes by the name Charles Crawford of San Diego, CA (an alias?), built the bench by cutting each LACK in two, filling them with expanding insulation foam, and coating the whole thing in paint for waterproofing.

A designer who calls himself Andrew Riiska, also of California (coincidence?) hacked four laminated IKEA legs with two seats from antique banker’s chairs.

I am reserving opinion on the widely blogged about treadmill desk because I do believe a healthy and active lifestyle is not that hard to come by, though I can appreciate the JERKER desk/treadmill combo by hacker John of Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

An interesting twist on the fast furniture hacking trend on the web is the scavenged hacking scene out of Tel Aviv. A duo known as Godspeed, comprised of Joy van Erven of Holland and Finn Ahlgren of Sweden, skip the design phase entirely and construct furniture out of raw and scrap materials.

Their M.O.: they hack each piece in an hour or less.

 

Images: IKEA Hackers; Godspeed

K. Emily Bond

K. Emily Bond is the Shelter Editor at EcoSalon and currently resides in southern Spain, reporting on trends in art, design, sustainable living and lifestyle.