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.

Pauline Garvey is senior lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Maynooth University, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland.

1. Unpacking Ikea, 2. Benign Intervention: Ikea Showrooms as Tableaux-Vivant, 3. Home Staging, Housing Theatre: Design, Domesticity and the People's Home, 4. Standardisation, Democracy and Equality: design for the Many People, 5. Storage Solutions, Clutter and Containment, 6. Still Life? Circulation, Mobility and Emotion, 7.
Epilogue: Design Dispersed