Chapter 1 - HDMDH*
*Highly Decorative MALM Dresser Hack
I thought long and hard before I selected the image that was going to submit as the front cover for my Design Festival submission. Last year I knew I had a winner - that green, textured, funky print from ABET - which by the way is not available anymore - on another MALM dresser. It was eye catchy, colourful - on top of the design being super functional and a pleasure to use. It looked great printed and attracted the eye on a screen.
So I guess it was no wonder I went back to the dresser for my 'artsy' hack - yea, this year, it is going to be a bit more 'artistic'? - I want to say - I was eyeing that ABET sheet for a while, it is just soooo decorative; and definitely man-made vs. natural wood grains with a flair. If you come on the 'open day' - Thursday, Jan 18, 2018, I CLOSE AT 10 PM - you can freely browse the furniture, you may even see my 'famoose' base for my SEKTION islands - and at 3pm we will have a discussion about design, and more, deeper, about furniture design. I have some 'controversial furniture design' views, and what I am doing about it.
[ASIDE]
Hey! if you are student [but anyone is welcome, if u wanna play hookie from work, by all means] and wanna skip design class for an event during the week, then make it this! Yea! when I was graduating I had big dreams; my designs were gonna change the world; I was gonna make a difference - 10 years later I will tell you that things turned out completely different than what I was expecting.
[Back]
I will tell you that back in the day, when I worked for others, that IKEA was detested. It was taking work away - instead of getting a 'custom kitchen' - and you know what, those who really need a custom kitchen, will get a custom kitchen, IKEA is not for you - they would base their design on the SEKTION box. Floating shelves fabrication was decimated - that LACK design is just so affordable and so many options. UNTIL.... UNTIL, one day, my boss bought shelves from IKEA and he told me to cut them down, reinforce them back, and cover them in a laminate. It was the best $20 bucks he spent - I say - and he made money. IKEA Hacking.... it just makes sense.
MALM dressers are great for hacking because they are just flats. If you follow some of the work I produce - or actually all - it is a modern aesthetic. I love modernist architecture, follow some interesting to me Instagram accounts - there is such a beauty in that austerity. The 3 drawer MALM dresser is just that - I reviewed MALM dressers in the past, why I like them - it is an exercise in austerity; out of necessity I think, remember, it has to fit the 'light budget' IKEA model; and really what's wrong with pricing your furniture right?.
And so this time I wanted to go completely in the other direction. I WANTED for it to be highly decorative, I wanted for it to be PRETTY. And I wanted for that decoration for have meaning, imply function - I found it quite difficult to get away from my typical rigid design nature.
See for me furniture HAS TO BE FUNCTIONAL. Whatever it is, whatever it is made of, whatever the INTENT - it has to be functional. Otherwise it is not furniture. I strongly believe that furniture should be owned by people, many people, AND improve their lives. And as much as I believe in ART, I think the future of furniture is very, very much tied to its functionality. The decorative elements on my MALM hack - the circle, and the strap - have a specific purpose. It is as basic as - I hate when stuff falls behind the dresser, so there should be something stopping it form falling. And I hate when electrical cords are not managed. Every design that I do - HAS CORD MANAGEMENT - and the strap? well, you know, MALM dressers were re-called because they were falling over? Yea, well this model, REMINDS YOU, to 'fix-it-2-the-wall'.
Two more Billy bookcases to design. Got to go.
Ciao!