A Visit to Ikea, or Playing It Safe

Adam Tinworth
Adam Tinworth
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A Full Load, originally uploaded by Adam Tinworth.

Nothing shakes your faith in humanity quite like a visit to humanity. To get the full effect, make the visit while you’re still sick. That’ll really do it.

The people there exude a strange mix of competition, aggression and fear that puts everybody on edge. Generally, I try to go in the evenings or during weekdays, to avoid the worst of it. However, Lorna’s family are coming to stay, so we needed the new sofa bed pronto.

I sat, waiting for something from the warehouse, and looking at the tills. All I could thin about was the tens of thousands of homes, all done up with the same furniture. It depressed me thoroughly. Ikea, for all its �laugh at designers� advertising and cheap prices, still manages to produce goods that are boring and, basically, bland. It wraps safety in a veneer of design, and I hate it.

I hope that it’s our last trip there in a while.

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Adam is a digital journalism lecturer, trainer and writer. He's been a blogger for over 20 years, a journalist for 30 and teaches audience strategy and engagement at City St George’s, London.

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