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Stephen Lacey

Most people trawl Ikea, pack their trolleys, take the kit home, then assemble the pieces with an allen key and a lot of swearing. That's about the sum of their involvement with the Swedish flat-pack giant.
But Ikea fanatics aren't like most folk. They sleep, breathe and eat Ikea - sometimes literally: one fellow actually moved into a New York Ikea store while his apartment was being renovated. And there are websites describing how to make the same meatballs Ikea serves in its cafeteria.
But perhaps the strangest and most interesting side of the cult is the hobby of Ikea hacking in which normally sane people transform what they've bought from the shop.
Ikea hacking has become so popular that a host of spin-off businesses have been created to cater to the needs and whims of the house proud for whom a Billy bookcase or a Klippan sofa will never be quite enough. 
Grippiks is a Sydney-based company that specialises in supplying pre-cut graphic prints to decorate popular Ikea models. 
'I was inspired by Martha Stewart, who had made a range of decoupage to apply to cabinetry,' says Jeff DeRee, founder of Grippiks (grippiks.com). 
'I thought, 'How can I adopt this idea and tailor it to the world's biggest furniture maker?''
DeRee experimented with various materials and adhesives before coming up with a synthetic paper that grips surfaces using microsuction rather than glue, making it easy to use and reuse. 
Melbourne design team Tess McCabe  and Liz Roger, of Metremade, came up with six Grippiks patterns with a range for children's furniture coming shortly.
Although the company was formed just a year ago, it's already attracted an overseas following via the Web. More than 90 per cent of sales are to Europe, the US and Asia.
DeRee classes himself as an Ikea fan and visits his local showroom frequently for inspiration and to check out the latest products. 
'I like the fact Ikea has made good design accessible to the masses at an affordable price,' he says. 
And he's conscious of keeping his own prices reasonable. For a piece such as the Billy bookcase, most people would only accent two shelf spaces. That will set you back around HK$147.
Swedish company Parts of Sweden (partsofsweden.se) also grew from the desire to personalise Ikea furniture. Shipping worldwide, it supplies bits and pieces such as doors, shelves, legs and other hardware to customise all the core Ikea pieces. So a Billy bookcase can become a swanky cocktail bar or a shoe rack, and Expedit shelving can include a wine rack and storage bins. 
Based in Stockholm, Bemz (bemz.com) sells via the internet. It offers removable, washable slip-covers for Ikea sofas, armchairs and cushions. There are more than 100 fabric choices on offer, including Panama cotton, textured cotton and some very cool examples from Marimekko.
It will cost from about HK$1,860 (including delivery) to re-cover a two-seater Klippan sofa.
If you judge success by sheer numbers, then Ikea's Billy bookcase has to be the most successful piece of furniture in history. More than 41 million Billys have been sold worldwide since the design first came out 30 years ago. 
German design studio Ding3000 (ding3000.com) took up the slogan 'Pimp my Billy' and arrived at the whimsical Billy Wilder. Although  the Billy bookshelf is about putting things in order, the Billy Wilder, an MDF shelf that serves as a storage place for books, magazines and newspapers, tips this idea on its head by encouraging chaos and mess.
Ding3000 has also designed the Billy Heidenreich - an oak lectern that attaches to the Billy - so you can stand in your living room and recite passages from the Bible, or your favourite Dan Brown novel.




Ikea hackers get personal