lewism

Did you know that the biggest charity in the world is dedicated to ‘innovation in the field of Architectural and Interior design.’ At some $36 Billion its bigger than the Gates Foundation which is a paltry $27 billion by comparison. But while the Gates Foundation goes around giving out money to fight disease and deprivation around the world, the Stichting Anka Foundation appears to do, well…… nothing at all. Ingvar Kamprad one of the worlds richest men set up the Foundation years ago and it basically owns Ikea. The Foundation as shown by The Economist doesn’t follow its founding brief at all but is simultaneously a way of insuring the Ikea group can never be taken over and perhaps also the biggest tax dodge in the world. This is all well and good but it seems to me that it is all very well being frugal but there is alot of good that this money could be doing while it may basically be held in limbo forever. As an Architect I really have alot of time for Ikea. I really like their design principals and some of their philosophy, you know what you get with them and they provide accessibility to design for everyone which is I think unique and the key reason why they are so successful, but look a little below the surface into the heart of the company and it starts to look, well, sometimes a little creepy.