Jennifer Kucherka: WHAT THE FRAKTA?

Photograph by Jennifer Kucherka | Flowers Vivio Flower Gallery

Lately, I've been seeing this $1 IKEA tote everywhere on the internet. That's because HAY and Off White have collaborated with IKEA to revitalize it. HAY's interpretation is very chic with the use of "British racing green" handles. While Off White has heightened it with a millennial edge. Soon we will be able to get our hands on at least HAY's bag which launches later this October with more of their pieces to form a collection.

Photography by IKEA

Brother-Sister design duo Knut and Marianne with the FRAKTA tote bag | Photograph by IKEA

From IKEA today | Designer portrait: Knut and Marianne Hagberg | 04.07.16

Knut and Marianne were working at IKEA when the iconic blue bag first saw the light of day. The story goes, as told by Knut and Marianne, that Ingvar Kamprad came home from Asia with a new material with which he wanted to make a bag. The material was usually used to store rice. Ingvar and IKEA sales manager Lars-Göran Petterson made the first prototype which was designed to carry up to 50 kilograms. When it came to testing the bag, they needed something that weighed 50 kilos? Jennifer! She weighed 50 kilos." Knut continues the story, "so in she jumped. If the bag could hold her, then it could hold 50 kilos." So there we have it, the tale of how an icon came into being.
"I think the design process of the blue IKEA bag is an accurate depiction of what happens collectively at IKEA, it's not a one-man show," says Marianne.

I purchased this wee-little FRAKTA blue tote while I was working in Japan. It's a fraction the size from the original and works great to carry take-out food or flowers home from the florist shop.