Plantsbrook Design Technology students were set a creative challenge when they visited a popular furniture store to learn about sustainability and customer experience.
DT students from Years 10 and 11 from Plantsbrook, which is part of the Broadleaf Partnership Trust, ‘assembled’ at IKEA in Wednesbury, for the informative trip on January 30th.
The visit to the Swedish homeware store, famous for its ready-to-assemble furniture, textiles, lighting and home décor, saw the students make their way around the huge shopfloor – with the challenge of identifying the most sustainable products on sale.
The challenge aimed to get the students thinking about how to design more environmentally friendly products, as well as experiencing the open-plan lay-out of the huge store, which opened in 1991 and draws millions of shoppers from across the region each year.
They were then given a presentation on the history of IKEA, and the values that have shaped the company since it was founded in 1943.
Student Jack Davies said: “It helped us learn about how they design their products and the processes they go through to make the product sustainable and how they make it price effective as well as, most importantly, best for the customer.”
Classmate Harry Smith added: “At the end of our session we were set a challenge by the IKEA team to create a new innovative product that was also sustainable.
“We did this by using what we had learnt from the previous presentation to help us make it as sustainable as possible, by considering the materials we used and how they would be sourced to make it sustainable.”
Teacher Natasha Brown, Assistant Subject Leader of Art, Design and Technology, said: “The students were fascinated by what they saw and heard on the trip to IKEA, which gave them some very useful insights into design, and sustainability.
“I’d like to thank the staff at IKEA for giving their time to inspire out students.”