With the rise in rents, people tend to choose smaller apartments that obviously have low rent. However, a crucial space is sacrificed. In this light, furniture giant Ikea is trying to delve into the space-saving world and transforming apartments for he masses. The furniture retailer is said to be developing movable walls and sliding power sockets.
The new features will enable people to reshuffle their apartment layouts with flexibility and privacy. You can tuck yourself sound in bed at night, and make it disappear the next day. The walls is set less than an inch above the ground and are attached to runners on actual walls. They could be shifted around like furniture to create small rooms--and when you don't need a room, get rid of them and free up space.
According to the company's head of research, Mikael Ydholm, the sliding walls could be incorporated more broadly, perhaps as part of Ikea's kitchens. He also estimated that these new products will still not be appearing in Ikea catalogs for another three years. By that time, apartments would have shrunk to a considerable size already and prices may have hiked even more.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the company has been testing the walls out on Swedish families in an '80s apartment building in Malmö.
"The apartment felt much bigger than mine, which is actually 20 square meters bigger," a single father who lived with his three sons for two weeks in the test apartment told the WSJournal.
Early 2015, CEO Peter Agnefjall admitted that Ikea was indeed slow to embrace e-commerce, which has taken the furniture world by storm.
Of course, transforming apartments is just one of the ways of the company to stay relevant to consumers. We've seen partnerships with a Dutch designer to come up with furniture with built-in wireless charging-- Ikea is continuously innovating.
What do you think of the movable walls? Do you think it's an efficient idea? Share your comments below.
