AXSTAD door Review - YES! IKEA finally has a 'SHAKER door'

[Hey! Hey! In Canada we also have beautiful GRAY AXSTAD too!]

I put up the video for that door too - it is AMAZING - borderline luxury!

[picture shows IKEA's new AXSTAD door laying on a benchtop. The door has been cut in half and put together. The left half has the thermal foil at the cut edge peeled back to test the strength of the bond. 

Chapter 1 - Finally! AXSTAD door REVIEW!

VIDEO HERE!

I mean, if that is not the most requested look for custom doors then I don't know this business. Proper Shaker kitchens exude an aura of craftsmanship and quality - and people desire craftsmanship and quality from their kitchen. I have to say that there is also a certain charm in them. 

SO YEA! A properly detailed AXSTAD door will look amazing, it will be affordable, and it will pass for Shaker*.

And that one little thing - ***the bumps*** - it's easy to overcome, don't let that sway you away from purchasing. I will be using these doors on my projects. 

Watch the video review HERE!

The WILLIAM debacle continues, but who CARES?

Chapter 1 - Exactly? Who really cares that IKEA stole that concept from me? 

I was furious when I got the news. I did feel a blatant stab in my chest, 'IKEA Canada renames BILLY bookcase WILLIAM'. But why? What's up? 

WILLIAM is the final step in the Peak Furnishings saga for the simple BILLY bookcase - WILLIAM is the final design destination, its final step in its design evolution. IKEA, the most influential furniture design company in the world [by sales volume; mostly to the poor and the savvy*], by adopting the name of my BILLY bookcase hack line, acknowledges that. 

I just have really hard time accepting the fact that this was a totally random decision that came from IKEA's design department. You know what I do before I create any Intellectual Property? I simply google the sh*t out of the topic - I scan ALL the results. You can find out very, very quickly if your idea exists - you can find out very quickly if anyone produced a YouTube video about the subject - you can hit all the BLOGGER sites with the content of interest. TODAY access to information is not an IMPEDIMENT TO BEING ETHICAL about the products or ideas you give life to. 

Instead I will make an argument that IKEA felt threatened that I was actually able to recognize the full potential of that simple, affordable box and the masses of consumers may be attracted to the possibilities that I was presenting them with. Oh yes - IT'S CHEAPER TOO!


Chapter 2 - WILLIAM is the final step of the BILLY journey. 

You know, sometimes things are not said out in the open, out loud. Sometimes it's simply a consistent trend, that if you are skilled at predicting the future, you can see the final chapter of. The final, ultimate chapter of any DESIGN STORY is the end user - you and me - but more importantly 'me', these days at least. The more granular your success, the greater it is. WILLIAM bookcase is the iBookcase - a simple bookcases for the masses that still have books or other things that they need to display. It's simplicity - in design, material choices, name [until now....] - was its greatest strength. I think that at the moment you have a professional recognize its commercial value and that design product finds a welcoming audience - BOOM! It's made - WILLIAM it is. 

Yes! I will be pompous about it!- I DO take my work very seriously and am deeply PASSIONATE about it. AND you know what, if you work hard, it's perfectly acceptable to enjoy your success! Let me tell you that it is every furniture designer's dream - WHILE STILL IN SCHOOL! - that they design an 'iconic piece' that will enter the canons of design forever..... It's usually chairs as they allow for 'most dramatic personalization vs. intimate user contact' - so you can easily vary or adjust the looks vs. comfort. When you think of corporate lounge interiors do you not think of the Barcelona Chair? And what is the epitome of an American lounge chair if not the Eames Chaise Lounge? And when you think of a 'proper dining chair', say a set of 6 or 8, do you not think about the Wishbone chair? I know I am generalizing a bit, but I am sure once I mentioned a name the image immediately popped in your head. 

But I gave up on that dream few years back. Why did I give up? Well, there is simply almost an overabundance of products, and chairs especially. Many, many, designers and makers, professional and amateur alike take up that challenge and end up spending countless hours crafting their original, unique and often commercially irreproducible objects -  sometimes with incredible results. Honestly, I sometimes end up overwhelmed looking at images of products. The effort required to punch thru, the effort to get noticed is enormous and requires great resources AND often is a simple fickle of fate or destiny.... So - what do I do? - Design chairs or play the lottery?

BUT IMAGINE that instead, very naturally, you stumble onto a very popular and accessible design [BILLY!] and over the course of some times you take it and realize the full potential of that design. MORE - countless of others can do the same - with you as a template for their design success - that in my opinion is the GREATEST SUCCESS - Accessibility, Affordability and Community! 

Historically, the WILLIAM bookcase concept is mine, I am extending the invitation to you too IKEA. Happy Birthday BILLY! 

Oh! And the most salient point of all *** if we had UBI society then IKEA Hacking would not exist ***

[ADDED LATER]  I want to make an observation here. This past Design Week, in January 2019,  here in Toronto - a pretty cool, pretty informative platform for a lot of interesting design - I went to see a talk titled 'Uncovering Canadian Design'. A panel of rather young, but clearly established brands, took questions and spoke about their own work. Few sad realization happened, for me at least - FIRSTLY and most IMPORTANTLY - you have to go to New York to make it big, Toronto is too small. That, and the power of good rendering. Jamie Wolfond, a young Canadian designer, popular on Instagram - so very much a visual footprint - raised an issue of originality - being creative in an original fashion AND how important it is for him. My guess was that most people in the audience were the 'creative types' - so usually freelancers, contract-2-contract work, occasionally slow then crazy. You know, there is a lot of people who just want to make a living out of their creativity and Intellectual Property they produce. And the fact is that they don't have - or don't want to - spend their limited creative bandwidth fighting to enforce their rights. We live in a society that should respect the creative effort by default - or at least that is my hope. 

[fin]

*IKEA must be dreaming when it thinks of itself as a 'Designer Brand', it never was, and never will be - it shows their lack of understanding of the concept of Luxury Furniture, and the psychology of it. 

The WILLIAM bookcase name belongs to me - IKEA stop stealing, it's UNETHICAL.

Yes, in 2018, I had a show titled 'U [can] 2' during which I launched the WILLIAM bookcase - 'when you take a BILLY bookcase and you hack it, you elevate it and make into a WILLIAM bookcase'. In fact IKEA steals not only that concept, but also the 'growing up portion'? No way! I can easily prove that it exactly the 'growing up' portion is *** stolen too ***. Billy to William is a natural transition - it indicates growth, maturity, prestige. Yea, I'm exactly as old as the Billy bookcase! 

You know what? I'm flattered. I agree - it is the cleverest way to change the name BILLY, and it was me and not your marketing department that came up with that - shit over luck! AND! AND! That's just a fucking awesome IKEA HACK! You hack the name and you hack the product. In my books, you just can't top that. That's clever. 

So yes. Pretty please - while the new catalogue is not printed yet - don't change the name of the BILLY bookcase to WILLIAM bookcase. It belongs to me, and is very dear to my heart - there is a whole philosophy behind it, other than your new marketing of it - could it be the ultimate personalization? - yes, but you are not the first ones to create that notion.  

Don't steal IP! You know it is unethical. 

*edit the next day - theoretically we could just narrow this spat down to a monetary transaction - that's as basic capitalism as we get, and we can't escape that. I am willing to license my WILLIAM name to you, IKEA, as a concept - so you can own in its entirety and profit from it ---> the start with a BILLY, the hacking portion, and the final ultimate 'personalization' WILLIAM/BILLY - 5 cents per individual unit sale - you can have it. Look, I can be bought and sold too - especially when an idea is good or great, and there will be larger positive implications. 

We can go at length on 'what is' and 'how to' about hacking but given the market response [the ultimate gauge of successful implementation, DELAKTIG for one] including yours [choosing to steal my name] I say I am in the right and you are in the wrong. There is no stopping human creativity and Peak Furnishings is here to stay. Get used to it. Is it going to affect your business? For sure! 

Hey! And let me offer some comment on your new name and campaign. So the only info I was able to find is that it is IKEA Canada that has changed the name BILLY to WILLIAM.  It is unclear from the website if the change is a permanent re-brand, or a temporary promotional move. There is a hashtag 'ItsWilliamNow' and the visual branding has the name BILLY crossed out and written in WILLIAM. First off, as a huge fan of BILLY, on a personal level - I don't like it. There is certain simplicity to BILLY that the name espouses and I really like that. Just from a linguistic perspective, and even a bit of a 'cultural overview' - the name BILLY is wonderfully ambiguous - I hope you made that observation and noted its appeal. Now marry that ambiguity to a visual campaign and you have exactly what your marketing department came up with. *** Now, the name WILLIAM - that sure is man.... middle aged.... British? Holy cow! You really can't escape that imagery - especially in the Western World. Is that how BILLY customers should see themselves? 

Now, how is my WILLIAM bookcase different from your WILLIAM bookcases? In every aspect - my WILLIAM is a well thought out decision, a conscious creative intervention - it is sophisticated. It is not minimalist is that oversimplified sense - because the strength of the original BILLY is its simplicity. Yes, I am upset. 

IKEA Hacker Says - How to make White GRIMSLOV look best.

---> BIG EDIT: Nov 1, 2021 ---> GRIMSLOV is being discontinued by IKEA. It is recommended that you REPLACE your damaged GRIMSLOV elements: doors, drawer faces, side panels, etc. --->  RIGHT NOW.

---> If you have an 'ON-GOING Design' - many people have; you have spread out your GRIMSLOV purchase over an extended period of time - NOW is the time to hit that PURCHASE button on IKEA's website. Stock is still plentiful but will begin to slowly dwindle down - YOU WANT to complete your design!

OK! Done....

Read on....

[Start]

[pictured shows a large window with an upholstered bench underneath, flanked by bookcases with lights. This is an IKEA Hack using the Grimslov doors, Sektion box, Billy bookcases, Omlopp puck lights and PAX strip lights. The lighting is controlled using Ansulta remote control - designs like these are a sign of 'Peak Furnishings', according to Karol Kosnik] 

Check it out how it looks on my INSTA! - better pics!

Chapter 1 - White GRIMSLOV Hate

As a designer - so a 'built interior designer', so I won't really accessorize or pick your throw pillows but I will help you set-up solid foundations for it, so built-ins, lighting, storage, organization, pretty furniture - I always strive [my duty! I say, lol] to create pleasant interiors. 

Most often it means selecting something from the IKEA's line-up, and most often it is Sektion or BILLY. I have been avoiding the white GRIMSLOV [so that is SEKTION] because I wasn't able to be successful with it - IKEA doesn't really make any nice 'sides' or mouldings that match that style. GRIMSLOV essentially is an over-sized Shaker, and you can either live with it or you cannot. There is number of specific characteristics that this door possess - some of it is intentional, like the relatively large frame, or the soft radiuses which are by-product of the way the doors are manufactured - thermofoil door - they have to be that way. 

**Most people that go to IKEA get 'trapped in the doors'**

Most people that go to IKEA get 'trapped in the doors', what do I mean by that? IKEA has professionals that make sure that their kitchens look GREAT - optimized and maximized with accessories and lighting and all the other trinkets that you can buy at IKEA - but you have to look past that. 

And the doors are GREAT too - lots of cost effective options to satisfy any budget [I am genuinely mind-boggled that I can buy Ukrainian made HAGGEBY doors for $8 - eight dollars!]. But as more and more people want to utilize the price point in their renovation/decorating project they start looking for more. So we already know that the 'rock-bottom' is captured - but there exists a market just above that, that IKEA wants to capture - that's why the catalogue is 'different' this year! 

Some SEKTION side panels are shared across multiple door styles - it's the colour that unifies them. So as we have a great variety of doors, what IKEA misses are those 'trimmings' that give each kitchen its unique 'flavour'. So I want to say that for 'modernist' kitchens, like the RINGHULT for example, the skinny side panels work - well, because, simplified, that is the 'modernist kitchen'. But the same size panels completely DO NOT WORK for GRIMSLOV! I personally think it is a great clash - that frame is just too oversize and overpowers that skinny edge that is showing! 

PRO TIP ---> Next time you are at IKEA, look BEYOND all the show and glitter, and just focus your attention on the actual box proportions and your preference for functionality. Take notes + pictures. 

This 'Create a BETTER look for GRIMSLOV aesthetic' was particularly challenging on this project - challenging but refreshing too! You know why refreshing? Because I knew that this was no kitchen, I could do anything that I wanted without having to stick to restrictive dimensions and functions, that working with kitchens brings - I LITERALLY just started experimenting. 

I have admit that my 'go to design exercise' is 'designing for myself' - I want to create something that I personally would like to have in my home. AND I am an optimizer! And there is just SOOOO much product - 'the bones' - that IKEA has to offer. No jokes, on this project, it seems, I grabbed a piece from every department! From Kitchens, and Bookcases, and Storage and PAX and Lighting! Of course there are custom touches on it too - my favourite I call 'deep bead board' - I make it that deep to 'unsettle the viewer'; because I've never really seen anyone do bead board in this fashion; it gives an illusion of great depth.

Do you know what the IMPROVED aesthetic for GRISMLOV is?

I just started scaling up the side panels in thickness. I took that move from my custom bookcase- I build them thicker now; I use 1" material. They end up  just looking better, custom. 

And then on the bench, because it is so long [horizontal] in relation to height, I wanted to beef it out even more - and so it came out to 1 1/4". That was a a lamination - glued up and filled edge, before painting - you have to do it, otherwise the edge will have an inferior texture - won't have that smoothness that shows care about details. 

[picture shows SEKTION boxes with white GRIMSLOV doors with custom base and custom, thicker side panels. The side panels are 1" and 1 1/4" think and look great]

Check it out how it looks on my INSTA! Thicc!

**I think every style of panel doors has an optimum side panel - some are good with stock IKEA, and some, like the GRIMSLOV, need a custom solution. **

So, I also got the crown moulding for the GRIMSLOV too - it is just a thick flat [I made mine 6" x 1" for ease of joinery] with a large radius on the underside. This thing floats 3/16" over the top of cabinets/doors and extends about a 1/4" more than it is thick. 

Confused? 

Yea, me too kind of - will upload a pics and drawing -, you will right away see - it is deceptively simple, but a very STRONG detail. AND... and... and I want to say that it is a bit of a trend in the kitchen design world, especially the finer ones. 

The OTHER advantage of this particular design  - detailing for the GRIMSLOV doors - is the fact that it makes the space look taller, much taller - that's the Psychology of Design that I always talk about. If you don't have a tall space and you need to 'make it feel taller' than there are specific things you do when you are decorating.

**Who doesn't love the feeling of sky high ceilings... I do!** 

The next step in elevating your ceiling, in this instance, is to adjust the heights of commonly introduced decorating elements that play a FUNCTIONAL role in design, like clocks for example. 

[picture shows a custom built upper cabinet. It features 1" thick cables and a solid wood glass door; the cabinet is crowned with a floating flat crown moulding]

[picture shows a close-up of the corner of the previously described cabinet - the wood grain flakes from the quarter-sawn white oak solid doors are visible].