I thought this bad boy could have been an April Fool’s joke, but it wasn’t (particularly as I saw the post in mid-March). And what a great idea. I would definitely buy one, even if it was noisy when you used it.
The designer, Jonas Frank, wrote
I have an idea that you at Fjällräven work together with IKEA and my creative company Jonas Frank AB. I have this idea that you at Fjällräven make your wonderful Kånken in Ikea’s FRAKTA material. Let me know if that would be interesting. I can guarantee a worldwide success. If not, I promise to eat the world’s hottest chili fruit wearing an Arsenal shirt. And you should know that is a great humiliation, because my heart is Chelsea blue.
This should be a limited edition collaboration, I think. I am convinced that it is a smart way to combine reach with exclusivity. Through a limited drop, hype, collector’s value and cultural relevance are created, without compromising the core brands. IKEA reaches a more design-conscious audience, while Fjällräven broadens its visibility in new contexts. A win-win in pure Swedish.
In my small town in South Africa, we do not have an airport. We have a tiny military airstrip that people use for rollerblading! Our local newspaper once reported that the Concorde would be landing there at lunchtime. So many people went there to wait for it. I cannot believe we were so gullible.
In today’s world though, every day seems like an unfunny April Fool’s joke. If current affairs were a movie, people would say it was not realistic. I am not sure I could spot an April Fool article today.
Wikipedia traces April Fool back to the 1300s and its first mention in England is in 1698 when people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to see lion being washed.
Among my favourite Swedish jokes are these two:
