Unpacking IKEA: Swedish Design for the Purchasing Masses

This book represents the first anthropological ethnography of Ikea consumption and goes to the heart of understanding the unique and at times frantic popularity of this one iconic transnational store. In Unpacking Ikea, Garvey explores why Ikea is never just a store for its customers, why it is described in terms of a cultural package; as everyday and decidedly classless. Using in-depth interviews with householders over several years, this ethnographic study follows the furniture from the Ikea store outwards to probe what people actually take home with them.