In the ‘non-academic’ section of our research for our final outcome I kept on coming across a common title in the articles I was reading, a title that quickly changed the direction of our outcome.
“What can the church learn from IKEA?”
Despite the question that appeared in the title of 5 seperate catholic online publications not actually highlighting any religious techniques adopted by Ikea, it gave us a new found understanding of how the globalised furniture store was perceived as a ‘sacred place’ by people who identified as religious.
Whilst cross-referencing the five articles, I found a number of common themes that related both to my preconceived notions of Ikea as a sacred place and new ideas that I previously thought had no real effect.
The main recurring practice that people believed the church should adopt was Ikea’s use of clearly defined directions. At first glance of ‘direction’ as a subheading I believed it would address what I personally believe is the incredibly blurred direction of many religious organisations, but instead related to the church itself, and the inability of both visitors and it’s own communities’ lack of understanding when it comes to navigating what is meant to be an ‘inclusive’ structure. I personally thought this particular point was incredibly trivial in nature and looked at both parties use of ‘direction’ a fascinating case stud into the psychology of a sacred place and something that Tess and I explored in our final project.
The next idea I found from reading the articles was the idea of Ikea being a ‘fun, interesting and innovative’ place for the whole family. An idea which once given some thought made a lot of sense as it touched at people’s alarming urge to be constantly entertained. Reading the numerous religious authors stating that the church should look to become more ‘entertaining’ made me wonder about if maybe that is the key to making something a ‘sacred place’ in the modern age, not being bored.
I quickly realised that these two concepts were interconnected, as they create an experience or a memory. People, especially in 2018 have a craving to be entertained, and as alarming as it may sound, maybe Ikea have worked out the correct combination of instant gratification, cheap meats and simple signage to turn their space into a universal ‘sacred place’.
AG
References
http://ronedmondson.com/2012/09/church-ikea.html
https://thejesuitpost.org/2016/05/7-practices-the-catholic-church-can-learn-from-ikea/