About this project

We would like to design a comprehensive assembly manual for IKEA’s LACK coffee table, a reasonably ubiquitous specimen of the Swedish design giant’s furniture offerings.

Anyone who has assembled anything from IKEA is familiar with the wordless, boldly delineated IKEA assembly manual, which placidly describes the process of assembly. The LACK coffee table’s assembly instructions are a neat four pages: one cover page, one list of tools and parts, and five assembly steps spread between the remaining two pages. We propose to research and design a kind-of prequel to the existing manual that describes the production and logistical processes that go into the manufacturing of the LACK table.

Our premise is that the manual inside that flat package is just the tip of the iceberg, and we want to discover and diagram all that’s below the surface.

Step one could begin in the forests of China or Poland where a tree is felled that will eventually be processed into the pulp that comprises the LACK’s honeycomb interior. Step 100 could be the application of glue that joins the birch-effect veneer to the honeycomb. Finally, step 1,000 could be step one in the existing manual…

Our assembly manual will follow the same graphic standards that govern any IKEA assembly manual, and will therefore remain similarly objective. The ferocious objectivity of its presentation-- from the standardized cover, to the cartoon version of yourself shown assembling your new furniture on a rug so as not to damage its corners--is one of the many enchanting things about IKEA’s assembly manuals. Our hope is that one can simultaneously be amazed by the technical complexity and logistical prowess embodied in the LACK table’s simplicity while also considering the enormous resources consumed in the name of efficiency. Our manual will be apolitical: it can serve as the underpinning of scorn just as readily as it can inspire admiration.

SUMMARY: This project aims to publish an assembly manual for a LACK coffee table from IKEA that documents every step of the manufacturing process from raw material to flat-packed product. This manual will employ the same graphic style as IKEA’s other consumer assembly manual, but will shift step one back to the harvesting of raw materials so to better appreciate the industrial heft of the seemingly simple product.

FUNDING: We are seeking this funding to offset our personal costs while we work on this project. We hope that you’ll find this amount to be modest when compared to the project scope.

PROJECT DELIEVERABLES: The assembly manual will be made available for purchase at cost from an online publisher. A PDF, eBook, and/or website version will be made freely available.

TIMETABLES: The assembly manual will be completed within six months from the completion of fundraising. Regular project process reports will be posted on a dedicated project blog.

Project location: Providence, RI

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Deelux

Providence, RI

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The dynamic duo of Chelsea DeSantis and Andrew Liebchen collaborate in life and design as Deelux.

1. deeluxdesign.com