A more sustainable trip for lampshades

It’s quite possible that you’ll be a little surprised when you pick up your SKOTTORP lampshade at an IKEA store or at your local parcel pick-up point. Can a 42 cm diameter lampshade really fit in that flat package? Actually, yes! It was interestingly after an unexpected phone call when we realised that it was high time to package a cone-shaped lampshade in a flat pack.

Gintare Cirbaite, a packaging engineer at IKEA, received the phone call: “It was from an employee at one of our e-commerce distribution centres and he was quite frustrated. Every time he sent a large, cone-shaped lampshade, he had to pack it in a huge box that mostly comprised of air."

A lampshade in parts

Gintare and her colleagues went to visit him and with their own eyes could see that the packaging was unsustainable. “When we transport all cone-shaped lampshades to our stores, we stack them together so that they are protected and take up little space. But e-commerce needed a different solution." Back in Älmhult, Sweden, the team began to dismantle lampshades to investigate whether a flat lampshade could be developed that fits in a flat pack. "Of course it worked!", Gintare comments, showing how with a few clicks, the bottom and top of SKOTTORP both fix to the frame’s metal rings and the lampshade unfolds into a solid shape.

Less environmental impact

More lampshade and less air in each package means several benefits. "We have long been good with packaging that takes up little space and limits the environmental impact of our transports to stores. With SKOTTORP, we also contribute to making our e-commerce transports more sustainable", Gintare notes. "And it’s easier for you to carry your lampshade home – regardless if you’ve bought it online or at a store."