Walking Ikea: Ikea Items System And The Consumer Space

The most distinct, durable and easily identified symbols in the space of city are constituted by constructions. Space developed by types of constructions is a part of the culture and history of the city. This paper researches on IKEA, a specific space for consumption by field investigation, and proposes interpretation of the space configuration and object system of the case through western culture theories.In the context of eastern culture, IKEA, a Swedish concept per se, exists as exoticism. As an imaginary western enclave, it bears typification and provides sufficient possibilities for interpretation. The reason why I study IKEA in depth is also because that its space configuration and object system, pose a special fashion to exchanges with the people in it, and thence establish a new object-human relationship, which is quite different from other consumption spaces such as a supermarket or a shopping mall of the same kind. The paper explains the following issues in sequence. How and in what patterns IKEA organizes and lays out its space? How the commodities here are displayed? How the space and objects here interact with each other, mutually benefit, attract and conquer consumers? How and in what ways the commodity literal vehicle, mainly the puff of IKEA, operates, persuades consumers, demonstrates its pursue of happiness in heart, and further proves that the pursuit is reasonable and can be realized with ease for consumers. How people are tempted and summoned to this consumption scheme and open their purses with willingness? They patronize IKEA, sometimes even extremely frequently and infatuatedly. What are the in-depth psychological characteristics in this unbelievable phenomenon? Is it related to their self-affirmations, subjective structures and values? What IKEA's commodities and space per se represent? The unmarried ladies explain the considerable proportion of the whole IKEA's patronizers. What are their different status and feeling in IKEA from ordinary shopping centers? What kind of layout the space configuration, objects and the people in IKEA constitute?The interpretation of IKEA's space configuration and object system helps to perfectly demonstrate its general profile as a special consumption space. We find that the motivation of IKEA's space configuration, object modality and literal means, which appear to be designed for people and serve people, is to coordinate and attract people' s sense to the maximum extent, incorporate and dismantle subjective parts into objects, and thence realize its final goals, making profits. IKEA is still a consumption space predominated by objects in nature. In it, objects not only occupy space but also dictate people.