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The IKEA team explores innovation in their new lab Space 10

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As a child, I always loved visiting IKEA, which I promise isn't half as odd as it sounds. Not only were the meatballs simply divine (they appear to have lost a little of their lustre of late though), but the IKEA closest to us featured not only a gigantic play area, but a free kids cinema playing everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Button Moon! Even decades later, as a man approaching his thirties, IKEA is one of the few gigantic stores I actively enjoy visiting, but I struggle to put my finger on why exactly? Could it be simple nostalgia? Or perhaps the Swedish influence? No, I reckon it's the design, because IKEA has always known design, both when it comes to their products and their megastores.

IKEA recently opened a new design lab and exhibition space called “Space 10” in Copenhagen, which aims to explore “The future of urban living”

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Expanding further on this design heritage, the brand recently opened a new design lab and exhibition space called “Space 10” in Copenhagen, which aims to explore “The future of urban living.” The lab's mission is to explore solutions for a smarter and more sustainable living through a series of workshops, pitch nights, design residencies, exhibitions, and collaborative projects. Copenhagen-based architecture studio Spacon & X divided the 1,000-square-meter interior into three open floors, with local graphic designer Nicholas Fuhr developing the visual identity that ties the three floors together. A former fishmonger's shop, the space has many of the hallmarks of tech company interior design: communal seating, sparse interiors, and flexible seating. The lab is decorated with hacked Ikea furniture, and Ikea goods, with artist and designer Maaike Fransen repurposing (recycling for designers) IKEA products such as inflatable balls and blankets, to create a cloud-shaped sofa, a white hangout space and a mobile workstation for lazy individuals.

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Designing Space10

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The lab has been set up by Carla Cammilla Hjort, who also founded and runs creative platform Art Rebels, music and arts event: Trailerpark Festival, and creative studio Rebel Agency. Hjort was contacted by global CEO of Inter Ikea Systems Torbjörn Lööf to co-strategise a better future for Ikea. She said: “We have tried to create the optimal conditions for a fast-paced, visionary and bold environment to foster and conceptualise radical ideas that we can test fast. Space10 is also a place where Ikea employees can go to get inspired, gain new perspectives and discover new talents and ideas that they might want to invest in and bring forward.” Ikea concept innovation manager Göran Nilsson, added: “We feel a real connection to the bigger purpose of Space10. Ikea already does a lot to improve the lives of the many people, and with Space10 we hope to take this vision even further. Whether or not the solutions are immediately relevant to our current business is not important. What matters is to look into new directions and be ready to make changes.”

The first Space 10 exhibition; “The Fresh Living Lab” will showcase the works by a group of 12 emerging designers from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

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The first Space 10 exhibition; “The Fresh Living Lab” will, among other things, showcase the works by a group of 12 emerging designers from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design who were invited to create 6 prototypes of everyday objects that would encourage better choices for the environment or your personal health. Among the designs was a table that charges your phone by turning heat into electricity, and a chair that rewards you for exercising. In addition a number of exhibitions, events and workshops will also take place in the near future to further inspiration and exploration in design. It all sounds very exciting and (of course) it all looks bloody incredible!

Spotlight on the Fresh Living Lab

Heat Harvest

The Heat Harvest uses heat to charge your mobile devices by using a pad build inside a table or countertop, which utilises nanotechnology to help collect and repurpose energy used in the home. Sergey Komardenkov and Vihanga Gore created it during a two-week workshop, and created a device that can either stand alone or be integrated into household items to capture wasted heat from our everyday objects and turn it into free, green electricity to use in your home.

The Clunes Smart Chair

Clunes, a smart chair, fights inactivity by popping up when users haven't met their fitness goals, providing a visual cue to go outside and get more exercise. Created by Liliana Lambriev and Melina Pyykkönen, the chair tracks your movements through your mobile device, so if you return home and the chair knows you haven’t moved around very much it will raise up and suggest you don’t sit down. How very passive-aggressive. Apparently sitting for more than 6 hours per day is as bad for you as smoking a pack of cigarettes everyday, so this could act as a bit of a wakeup call for some. In fact, I sit down WAY more than 6 hours a day so maybe I should consider placing an order!

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Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK.

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