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Recently in Taiwan, Nordic furniture and home decorations have become an islandwide phenomenon. This Scandinavian craze seems to be a transformation of aesthetic consumption in Taiwan consumption society, shifting from the traditional American and Japanese favor to the Nordic design featuring practicality, humanity, and simplicity. The Nordic design could be traced back to the early 20th century, and becomes world-famous after WWII. Up to now, it has become one of the most influential designing styles in the world. In 1995, IKEA, with the iconic Nordic furniture and home decorations, was introduced to Taiwan and has provided consumers with a different consumption experience based on its brand-new marketing strategy. The space arrangement of IKEA, the embodiment of exotic cross-cultural mediascape, not only offers the public imaginary spaces and settings characteristic of the exotic culture but also turns into a consumption space where Taiwanese consumers recognize the Nordic “imagine here and practice here” and “tourist gaze.” The present study, based on the geographical environment, social humanistic characteristics, and traditional craft culture of Northern Europe, explored the intentions of Nordic design and analyzed the space organization and features of the display space design in IKEA to verify the intensions of the Nordic design. The results revealed that the preference for the Nordic design and the success of IKEA lie in its philosophy and products featuring the Nordic social ideal and iconic cultural characteristics. 1. Socially-penetrating design: Featuring “democratic design”, the Nordic design is not merely a business practice, but an extension of care and responsibility to the public. 2. The linkage between the tradition and the design: While the new geometry design of modernism in Western Europe disconnects it from the history, designers in Northern Europe not only turns to the traditions and craft culture, but find inspirations from within. 3. Changes in the functionalism: Functionalists take “Form follows function” as the designing principle; however, designers in Northern Europe use elegant outlines to soften the overly stiff functionalist design, leading to the success of humanity-based Nordic design. 4. Although IKEA is an international furniture company, the style and values its products reflect maintain the designing thought and logic of the Nordic society. The widespread establishment of shopping malls brings the life aesthetics and culture of the Nordic society to the world. Consumers in Taiwan have undergone an exotic Nordic experience through IKEA’s products, which serve to express the Nordic designing thought and attitude toward living.
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