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

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A weekly roundup of EcoSalon’s top stories.

Anything But Shorts, Please is a fun look at a summer trend we simply cannot embrace unless hiking, biking or post surf: shorts. Instead, we give you a nice round-up of some great skirts that will love you for who you are and add a little more style when cruising about town.

EcoSalon Editor-in-Chief Sara Ost writes that DailyWorth is a “fuss-free, no-nonsense, wouldn’t-even-think-about-patronizing financial tips, guides and advice for women. From growing your savings, making your money work for you (instead of the credit card company), and ensuring you negotiate a pay raise on par with the guys, DailyWorth takes women and money seriously. Because we’ve come a long way, baby, and so have our bank accounts.” Don’t you owe it to yourself to know more about what your money can do? Read the article here to find out more.

Fast furniture retailers show no sign of slowing down, but the essence of slow furniture is something we can settle into. In Slow, Meet Furniture. Furniture, Meet Your Maker, Shelter Editor K. Emily Bond writes: “Like the slow food movement, the slow furniture movement is sweeping cities from Los Angeles to Toronto and is a reaction against mass-produced, cataloged, assemble-it-yourself, “disposable” furniture. Slower also denotes organic, as in the fabrication process is completed with human hands using sustainable materials. Slow food advocates seek a connection to the origin of each meal; slow furniture makers identify with their raw materials.”

You might have seen the headline, All We Are Saying Is Give Peas A Chance, and thought columnist Susan Goldberg was really into The Beatles – but no, she’s really into not tricking kids into eating veggies. Goldberg writes: “Besides the inherent ethical issues of deceiving one’s offspring, the problem with tricking children into eating vegetables is that they will grow up completely unaware that they have ever eaten or enjoyed a vegetable. If you steam, strain and puree spinach only to hide it in brownies, your kid will have no idea that he likes spinach – he will only know that he likes brownies. With childhood obesity at epidemic levels, do we really want to push more desserts on impressionable young people?”

In this week’s Sex By Numbers: Taking You For Granted, writer Abigail Wick encourages us to stop wasting time being so self-conscious and instead, live life to the fullest. She writes: “It’s this disproportionate focus on perceived lack that has really started to rub me the wrong way. Rather than celebrating their abundant gifts, there is a systematic zeroing-in on self-doubt. It frustrates me to see lovely, lovable female friends mired in such petty preoccupations. ‘Wake up!’ I want to scream. ‘Stop taking it for granted, stop thinking about yourself so much, stop this self-indulgence. Don’t wake up 30 years hence and rue the potential and pleasure you frittered away in a misery of your own making.’”

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Fast furniture retailers show no sign of slowing down, but the essence of slow furniture is something we could settle into.

Once upon a time, in the days before particle board and flat packs, furniture was crafted meticulously by people who called themselves, reasonably enough, craftsmen. Craftswomen, too.

Then the parsimonious Ingvar Kamprad invented IKEA, whose cheap, chic furnishings have been emulated by home-furnishing box stores the world over. That’s not a bad thing (unless you happen to work in their Danville factory), particularly if you’re a recent college grad. But the global saturation of fast furniture does create a certain déjà vu, does it not? Much like the DNA of a McDonald’s fry tastes the same in Peoria as it does in Paris.

Nowadays, we dub those craftsmen and women The New Artisans as if they, like some other pioneers we know, are reinventing the tomato. Alas, they are not. They are simply making old school juicy again – as well as authentic and kind by using salvaged and sustainably harvested materials to create heirloom quality wares that will impress even our grandkids.

Like the slow food movement, the slow furniture movement is sweeping cities from Los Angeles to Toronto and is a reaction against mass-produced, catalogued, assemble-it-yourself, “disposable” furniture. Slower also denotes organic, as in the fabrication process is completed with human hands using sustainable materials. Slow food advocates seek a connection to the origin of each meal; slow furniture makers identify with their raw materials.

If you’re in the contemporary woodworking trade, James Krenov is, no doubt, one of your icons. He described slow furniture as “work that can be traced to the maker, the hand, the eye and the heart.”

Toronto craftswoman Julie Nicholson characterized slow furniture to a Canadian newspaper as quite simply “pieces that you hold onto.” Along with Shaun Moore, they’ve established MADE, a showroom that connects designers with consumers looking for local, quality furniture.

A noteworthy slow piece that’s garnered a great deal of attention in recent weeks among the movement’s enthusiasts is this chair, crafted by Pooktre Tree Shapers, which took more than a decade to literally grow.

A decade in the making. Note the date: chair planted in 1998.

Samuel Moyer Furniture, comprised of a small group of artisans in Los Angeles that makes one-of-a-kind handmade furniture from sustainable materials, develop what they describe, “a relationship with each piece of furniture” and in turn, every client that brings their wares into their homes. They aim to create furniture that lasts “links generations,” and reduces waste.

The Evening Sideboard from Samuel Moyer Furniture with detail of the sideboard wedge.

This piece by Environment furniture is made from Peroba wood, which is reclaimed from Brazilian homes and factories. Environment’s stamp remains focused on the longevity of the materials that they use.

The Marison Dining table care of Environment furniture, and reclaimed Peroba wood.

While fast furniture manufacturers like IKEA, West Elm and Target show no signs of slowing down, the essence of slow furniture is catching on. Our prediction is that the trend will rise along with consumer consciousness. There is a market demand for furniture that’s crafted to last, designed with practicality in mind, and built with ethics at heart.

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