One random thing I'll never understand about Europeans...
Is their STRANGE love for the IKEA Furniture company.
It's especially a "big" thing in Nordic countries, and of course Germany, and for the life of me it really irritates me why people are so in love with this shit company.
In my travels to Europe, I would always remember seeing IKEA plastered everywhere, including their warehouses and stores, and many hotels and hostels I've stayed at, USE IKEA furniture and people buy that crap.
Perhaps in Sweden, it's like a blind "treasure of pride" of some sort, but seriously, IKEA is on the level of "SHEIN" for a clothing company.
Their furniture are like playtoys, I can't tell you how many chairs and other IKEA equipment I've broken in countless years of travel, it actually has become a subject of hatred for me actually.
I've broken so many pieces of IKEA equipment that bends or breaks, I've sat in countless chairs and benches and sofas that also broke when I sit on them, and have fallen over in several instances.
IKEA is not even an acceptable company, a company like this ought to be investigated by authorities for making dangerous and unethical practices in their designs, and it's shocking to me how many Germans even love this shit. A country that usually would be the first to want to shut something down like that.
Yes there is some kind of strange 'prestige' in Europe about buying furniture from Ikea. Strange for what is effectively a company that knocks out cheap, mass produced crap. I don't know what it is-maybe its considered to have 'simplistic' or 'modern' design-but I think somehow in the UK for example, there is some sort of idea of buying something from there is somehow 'sophisticated' or 'a cut above' the peasants. It is not dis-similar to people who think it is somehow sophisticated to watch some obscure Scandanavian TV series on Netflix-which I believe is still 'a thing.' I have seen numerous articles here and there over the past years reading some half-wit gushing about some Danish Police drama they are watching or something. I never understood how, for example, if you had some old chopping board that a friend or family member gave you this would somehow be looked down on, but if you purchased a 'Schlongen' chopping board from Ikea this would be 'classy.' Another thing about Ikea is that it is clearly aimed, of course, at 'women.' The whole layout of their stores are designed so you have to walk around the entire store-as if it were a museum- until you reach the exit area- in order for the easily led female to make spontaneous '"oh that would look lovely in our flat-Oh i have to get one of these..Its very cheap"purchases. Of course at reaching the till at the end the man in the 'relationship' has a glowing red-hot credit card , and by the time the party arrives home the woman has changed her mind about everything and is wondering 'Why did we buy this' whilst simultaneously flicking through the Ikea catalogue she has just picked up and planning her next trip. Funnily enough I was unfortunately in London a few weeks ago and went into the 'Heals' furniture store which is a king of upper middle class version if 'Ikea' for bankers and the like (I went in there to 'steal' the use of their toilets) and the prices were just mind-boggling. They would have, for example, a standard black framed picture with some non-descript image of a vase of flowers or something, and it would be like £399. Its mental.
ReplyDeleteFurniture has the widest mark ups...and I never cared for expensive furniture because of that...IKEAA, I have no idea. It does look very cheap.
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