What a blue piano and the IKEA FRAKTA bag can teach us about trying new ideas

At the IKEA Zwolle store in the Netherlands, a blue piano marked “Play me” invited customers to sit down and play. It brought some lovely musical moments, but it also became an irresistible drum kit for children, creating noise for restaurant guests and co-workers. Eventually, the piano was removed. 

In London, House of FRAKTA gave a familiar blue carrier bag a new setting. The Oxford Street pop-up welcomed 291,000 visitors in the six months before the store opened, and 32,000 bags were personalised. 

The two projects were recognised in Ingka Group’s annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, which celebrate co-workers who bring the IKEA entrepreneurial spirit to life by taking initiative, keeping customers in focus and learning from experience. House of FRAKTA won in the Best innovation category, while the IKEA Zwolle piano was recognised in Entrepreneurial mistake. 

This year saw a record number of initiatives submitted from countries, with three finalists selected in each of four categories: Cost optimisation, Best innovation, Excellence in implementation and Entrepreneurial mistake. For the first time, the Entrepreneurial mistake winner was decided by a People’s Choice vote.  

The awards encourage co-workers to try new ideas, learn from the results and share what works and what doesn’t, so useful lessons and best practices can spread across teams and other IKEA stores. 

In the episode, Christopher Wilcock, Graphic Design Specialist at IKEA UK, and Maarten Römer, Sales Team Leader at the IKEA Zwolle store, share the stories behind the two initiatives. They reflect on listening to different perspectives, staying close to customers and being ready to adjust when an idea doesn’t go to plan. House of FRAKTA became a widely shared customer experience, while the piano offered a lesson in balancing a playful idea with the needs of everyone in the restaurant. 

Listen to the latest episode of Screw It with Christopher Wilcock and Maarten.

Screw It – Episode 20 – Full Conversation Transcript

Daniela: Wouldn’t it be nice in your everyday life to feel free to make mistakes and start again? We have with us today Maarten and Chris from IKEA, and they’re going to walk us through their biggest mistakes and what led to innovation, experimentation and ultimately progression. We’re in Sweden today, and we’re going to talk to two people who have amazing ideas that they’ve carried forward in something that IKEA calls the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Tell us a little bit about your awards. Let’s start with Maarten. 

Maarten: Well, thanks for having us, for having me, for having us. About the awards for Entrepreneur of the Year within IKEA, I think there are five categories, one of which is the biggest mistake of the year, with the team from IKEA in the Netherlands. We made a big mistake, and we tried to celebrate those things because we learned from our mistakes and also through the culture and values, we have at IKEA. Through Ingvar Kamprad, it’s about starting to make mistakes and growing from them, but most importantly, sharing those mistakes and what we learned from them. So, yeah, we made a big mistake. We put a piano somewhere with all the good intentions, and it got a whole thing going. We know in the food area of IKEA—you see pianos in train stations, and we thought this would be great. It was peak time, and people would come and see it and play beautiful songs on this piano. The other customers in the restaurant really enjoyed themselves. We got the piano through an external company, made it blue, obviously, for IKEA, and put it there. I think the first two songs were really lovely. There was even a lady singing, and the customers really enjoyed it. Then all of a sudden, we noticed that we kept going on with our work around the food, and there was this noise coming from the piano, quite a lot of banging on the keys. So we looked in, and the children were banging on the keys. Okay, fine, that can happen. But it became a thing. At the end of the day. I have to check how long we actually had it for,both the customers and the co-workers at IKEA went nuts because the piano was just constantly being bashed on. We put a note there asking people to be mindful. It told us a lot about our customers as well, but it was a really interesting experience and experiment. But you have to admit when something doesn’t work, right? Take your losses and share it with, in our case—the other IKEA stores: “Hey, we tried this.” So it’s a great example. Yeah, it was a really nice experience. 

Daniela: Fantastic. And tell me, Chris, about the award you won. 

Christopher: Yeah, for sure. We’re part of a team that worked on House of FRAKTA. It was an experimental experience in the heart of London. It was when the new store was being opened. We had a period at the beginning where we opened a pop-up, and it was really about how we turn up for the customer and create an experience they really enjoy, something we can celebrate, typically IKEA. As I mentioned, it’s House of FRAKTA. We took an iconic product, the FRAKTA carrier bag, gave it a twist and turned it into almost a high-end luxury fashion bag. The way we approached that was really experimental. We were testing and trying and enjoying the experience as we went along. 

Daniela: As part of this Entrepreneur of the Year Award, you’re both based in two different markets, right? So, you’re based in the Netherlands. Am I right?  Yes. And you’re based in the UK. Both ideas come from different markets. Yours was about innovation, and yours was about the mistake. You both have excellent examples here, and I want to dive in. I want to go backwards a little bit first. When people think about entrepreneurship externally, they think of big ventures and start-ups, but we’re talking about entrepreneurship in a large company, doing things inside. How do you know an idea is good enough to submit? How do you think, “Okay, this idea is perfect for the mistake category,” or “This idea is perfect for innovation”? When I think about it, I think of a much larger scale. What does that mean? 

Maarten: Well, IKEA is a huge company. It’s a big brand, it’s global, and there are a lot of things going on within IKEA. There are a lot of good ideas within IKEA at every level, and a lot of big mistakes at every level, as well as exciting innovations. I think the really nice thing about the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is that it showcases the entrepreneurship that is possible within the store and so on, on a relatively small scale. People are encouraged to do things, try things and act on ideas and things they see their colleagues doing. I think sharing those innovations and those things that are relatively easy to do allows us to actually do things. It empowers every store to do their thing and come up with great mistakes and great ideas, things that work, so we can help each other between stores. I think that’s the nice thing about it. 

Christopher: Yeah, I think there’s probably no such thing as a bad idea. It’s how you act it. For myself, it’s about the excitement that an idea brings me. Obviously, you have to take a step back and reflect: Is it something we park? Is it something we take forward? Then, obviously, come together. Togetherness is a key part when you have an idea: sharing it and getting other perspectives, because there may be things you’ve never really thought about. So I think it’s about trying things out, testing and seeing what you’re passionate about, then putting that forward and not being afraid to speak up when you’ve got something to say. 

Daniela: That’s interesting too, right? Entrepreneurship in a big company, coming up with ideas in the store. What did your manager say about it? How did you bring it about? Was it a team effort? I want to put myself into your store and think: How did this come about?  

Maarten: For us, it was very much a team effort. It wasn’t my idea; I’m not claiming the idea. The person who came up with it just threw it out there, and then it started leading its own sort of life. People picked up on it. At the end of the day, you make a quick calculation: What are the costs, what are the benefits, and what do we hope to achieve? Because obviously, even though it’s a mistake, you hope to achieve something. 

Daniela: Did you know it was a mistake to begin with? 

Maarten: No, exactly. I hope to make many more mistakes, but I have no idea what the mistakes in the future are going to be. But there will be many. So, I can talk to Chris and go, “Don’t do this, Chris. We’ve tried this.”   

Daniela: I want to hear that too. 

Maarten: Yeah, exactly. And that’s also to come back to the entrepreneurial part. One of our core values is leading by example. I can imagine it’s very often viewed as a leadership thing, which it isn’t. Leading by example is at every level. We lead with our ideas. We lead by doing things, making mistakes and making great innovations. It’s very much encouraged.  

Daniela: That is fantastic to hear, because I think that’s where the great ideas happen: when smaller or bigger teams can try something out and make it happen.  

Maarten: Yeah, but it’s also IKEA having an openness of mind, maybe on a store level, where everyone can just say, “Hey, should we try this?” And then, yeah, why not? Let’s go for it.  

Daniela: And your managers say yes? 

Maarten: I mean, not always, but you have to have a good idea, or at least it has to seem like a good idea. But then your managers say yes, you can prioritise things and all that kind of thing, and then the option is there. Excellent. 

Christopher: Definitely. From our perspective, when we came together, there were a lot of people involved in the decision, from country managers to marketing specialists. We had to come together and see where we saw the priorities and opportunities in this idea. Obviously, that creates challenges, but I think it’s also a good melting pot. People can say, “Hang on, have you thought about this perspective?” As I mentioned, togetherness is about seeing where people’s strengths are and taking the best of everyone’s abilities, bringing those forward and letting people do what they’re good at. 

Daniela: On that note, let’s go to House of FRAKTA. It’s such a neat idea, on iconic Oxford Street. Tell me a little bit about how the idea came about and how you decided it was a great idea to go forward with. Why FRAKTA?  

Christopher: Everyone loves the FRAKTA bag, to be honest. It’s one of those products that’s in pretty much every household, I can imagine. We’ve all got an affinity to it. When we came to this idea, it was about how we turn up for the customer and do we make an experience that not only we enjoy, but that we know our customers will enjoy. Looking at Oxford Street, knowing it was a hub for shopping and high fashion, we saw the opportunity in action. We have a bag. Yes, it’s not a Birkin or an expensive designer bag, but it is a bag customers love. So how do we show the bag in a different way? I think it’s really exciting to take the product and say, “Let’s twist it,” while keeping the idea that this bag is for everyone. 

Daniela: You made a cultural moment out of it, right? Tell me a little bit about that. How did you do it? One thing is to showcase something; another is to make a cultural movement out of it. How did you do that? 

Christopher: To be honest, I think it was almost the product itself. As I said, customers have an affinity for the FRAKTA bag. When we created the concept, we pushed it forward through personalisation and ways for customers to get involved with our products and take them in another direction. We also had an immersive experience in the store, and customers loved it. They loved the IKEA brand, they loved the bag, and then they saw it in a different light. It was an exciting experience.  

Daniela: I heard people didn’t really know what they were going to see when they went in. That was part of the excitement? 

Christopher: Yeah. It was all low-key. We kept it a secret and had a teaser at the front, so people weren’t aware of what we were going to offer. Then, when they came through the door, it was like, “Wow”, a wash of blue. We showed the FRAKTA bag in a different light, and I think people really fell in love with that idea. There’s something new here, interesting.  

Maarten: And also, we’re very much about being humble. But, like you said, it’s not a Birkin. I imagine it might be more recognisable than one. It’s such a cult thing, a blue FRAKTA bag, and it’s such a sustainable driver for us as well. This is a good example of not being too humble about it. If you see a blue FRAKTA bag and you’re not from IKEA, you still know it’s an IKEA brand.  

Daniela: Yeah. What you know is that it lasts. Yeah, that’s what you want. Everything lasts in this. It is iconic. Tell me a little bit about personalisation. I heard you personalised around 32,000 bags. What do you think that means for people? Why did you do that? 

Christopher: Personalisation came with its challenges because we were working out how to do it. We considered having sewing machines in the store, but they’d be noisy and we had to think about the production rate. Then we came to the conclusion that we could create letters so people could put their initials on the bag. That gives them an instant connection to the product and an experience where they can say, “This is my bag now.” They can use it every day, as a laundry bag, shopping bag, or take it to a disco. It’s yours now. 

Daniela: Yeah, it has so much meaning. Let’s go into the piano now. I want to know, it was blue too. Where exactly did you put it? What colour was it, and how did it work in reality? 

Maarten: So, most IKEA stores are similar, but also a little bit different. If you go to IKEA, we have what we call the showroom, with the big furniture. Then you walk straight into the restaurant or food area, and then straight through to what we call the Market Hall. We put it prominently, as the first thing you saw when you walked through the food area. We made it blue, obviously, for brand relevance. We worked with the company that loaned us the piano. From a cost perspective, that was interesting. We wrapped it blue, and I think we did a blue circle on the floor underneath it as well. It was the main focus when you walked into the restaurant. 

Daniela: So, it’s like you had music with your food. 

Maarten: Yeah. We’re very much looking at food and how we enhance the experience for our food customers. We tend to forget that food is such a huge part of IKEA. Obviously, everyone knows the meatballs and things, but it’s such a part of the experience. How do you enhance the whole IKEA day out? You can do it with music, right? And who makes the best music? Maybe our great customers do. They do, apart from the younger ones, I’m guessing. They had the most fun. 

Christopher: But I think that’s where these two connect as well. We talk about playfulness and experiences, and that’s at the heart of IKEA. We always want to show up in a different way and surprise the customer. Yeah. I’m sure they enjoyed the fact that it was there, that it was new.  

Daniela: But at what point, when you’re in the store and part of the team, do you say, “Okay, this is annoying. A lot of people are playing and it’s very loud. It’s starting to annoy our customers”? I assume they’re telling you. At what point do you pull the plug and say, “This isn’t working. We need to change the strategy here? 

Maarten: The first feedback we mostly got was from our colleagues and co-workers who work close to the restaurant. They said it was actually getting really annoying, the piano going on and on and on. You still look at it and think, “No, but the customers really like it. We want the customers to be happy.” Then we got some feedback from customers too: “I had a great dinner at the restaurant. The food was great and warm, but this piano was quite annoying. We couldn’t really enjoy it.” We got one or two comments, then another one or two, and then you try different things. How can we keep the idea and get the good out of it, but also get rid of the bad? First, we tried communication on the piano itself, like “tiny hands” and asking people to use the piano gently. That didn’t really work, but we tried it for a while. After a while, we locked the piano and put a note on it: “If you want to play the piano, please come and ask for the key.” I think that was the point where we had to admit that if we have to lock it and it’s not available to the customer anymore, it’s gone beyond the point. Now it’s just a piano standing there and not being played. It’s a process you go through. 

Daniela: I love how you tried and tested different ways to keep the idea and make it work. In the moment, that’s part of the experience too: trying to see what you can change. 

Maarten: Yeah. I mean, we’re talking about a piano, but I think that’s part of every process.Exactly. We’re talking about a piano, but really we’re talking about making the experience work. Yes, definitely. But also always question yourself about why you’re doing things, what the benefits are and what the downsides are, because there are benefits and downsides to any idea. Really good ideas have mostly benefits, but there will always be downsides. You have to keep asking yourself why you do the things you do. In that process, you will make mistakes. 

 Daniela: This takes me to a great question for both of you. What do you think we learn most from mistakes? What do mistakes teach us about products and about ourselves? 

 Christopher: I would have to say it’s just human nature. We all make mistakes. It’s about taking a step back and saying, “Okay, there’s a failure or something needs to change.” Then how do you move forward with that information? It can be a challenge, because you don’t want to admit that it’s been a mistake or that there needs to be a change. But ultimately, to move forward, there has to be reflection. 

 Maarten: It’s also about entrepreneurship. IKEA has been around since ’43, basically. If nobody had ever dared to make mistakes and own up to them and if it were a shameful thing then we wouldn’t have grown. I learned the other day, which I found interesting, that Ingvar Kamprad made a huge mistake with pianos back in the ’60s. I wasn’t aware of this. I wish I was. I think we should stay away from pianos for a while now. But he sold pianos for a bit, and it didn’t work because the quality wasn’t there. If he hadn’t done it then, the company wouldn’t grow by doing these things. If you do 100 things, maybe 50 of them are going to be a mistake. Fine. The other 50 are the really important ones that grow a business. 

 Daniela: And you mentioned that we apparently had pianos in the store at some point, and it was tried. Who’s to say it didn’t work then but might work now? It’s also about looking at the timing. 

True. I love the idea of what it means personally. Nobody likes to make a mistake, and I think it’s important to take that from a personal level to a company perspective. Companies don’t like to make mistakes; they don’t like to show them. That’s why this is such an interesting topic. I want to hear about your innovation, what worked for you and what didn’t, and why it didn’t work. Then other people can feel, “Oh, maybe it’s okay that it didn’t work. We can change and do something different, but we should try.” 

Maarten: It’s a mindset as well. I’m not saying I’m keen on making mistakes now, but in a way, I am, because the whole idea of learning from mistakes, accepting that they’re there to be made, owning up to them and sharing them, which is eventually the goal, really excites me now. So, I’m going to go back to work and make another ten mistakes and then share them. Yeah. Celebrating mistakes, by not celebrating them, you can stifle creativity because you’re not taking risks.  

Christopher: You can think of a “fly in the sky” idea and then shoot yourself down: “I’m not going to take that any further.” But the idea could actually have legs. You should own your ideas and take that leap. Especially with creative ideas like this, having an experience in a store. A company might say, “Why are we doing that? What if nobody appears? Then it looks like it didn’t work.” You really are taking that risk, right? From a creative perspective, that’s important. Most definitely. In my day-to-day work, we’re always testing things. There have been projects I’ve worked on that have gone down a funnel, and then we’ve had to take a step back and say, “Actually, this is not going to work. I need to go back to square one,” or take those learnings and move on. It’s always a learning curve. 

Daniela: Let’s talk about results. I don’t know if we got results with the piano, but did you get more customer interest or other results in the store? 

 Maarten: We did get visitation. I wouldn’t say a spike, but we could see a little bit of visitation. We could see social media performing well when the piano performed well. Aside from the negative customer feedback, we actually got a lot of positive feedback as well. It was a bit of a double-edged sword: when the piano was there and being played as intended, everyone loved it. It was the other side that was problematic. We got lots of really good feedback that we can take into the next idea. 

Daniela: Because your goal was to increase visitation, right? 

Maarten: Yeah. We want people coming into an IKEA store and seeing new things when they come. We have a lot of loyal customers who come a couple of times a year. Every morning when we open the store, there are always the same couple of customers coming for breakfast every day. And you want to give them something to enjoy and be surprised by. In the end, that worked. It was a mistake in that it had a little golden edge.  

Daniela: Like a silver lining.  

Maarten: That’s the word I was looking for. 

 Christopher: For us, obviously, we had 291,000 people come through the doors of House of FRAKTA. But our reach was much further. We had a five-million reach on social media. It goes to show that a small-scale project can have strength in the idea, because it has gone out to a much wider audience. A lot of people around the world have seen House of FRAKTA, and I think that’s really something to celebrate. 

Daniela: It’s also great because you’re taking an iconic product and an iconic location. I assume a lot of people didn’t necessarily know it was happening; they just walked into it? 

Christopher: Yeah. We did have a few teasers on social media, but it was also just people passing by, doing their general shopping and seeing IKEA. A lot of customers didn’t realise what was there until they stepped through and saw the FRAKTA bag in a glass dome. They were like, “What’s going on here?”. Then it really drummed up excitement. People got their phones out, filmed their experience and got involved. 

Daniela: Did you see an increase in sales of FRAKTA bags? 

Christopher: We did. We had a high turnover. I can’t recall the figure for personalising the bags, but it was amazing. As part of the experience, we also had the history of the FRAKTA bag and talked about its many purposes, where it came from, and how it’s used in homes for different things. I think when customers see that and connect with it, they can really engage and enjoy it. 

Daniela: For both these great ideas, we can’t not talk about the most important thing here: social media, and its impact on great ideas in the store. Tell me a little bit about how much it meant to have a good social media campaign for these ideas. 

Maarten: Actually, you just got me thinking. The FRAKTA experience in London probably had an impact in the Netherlands because social media is so widespread; it doesn’t really know borders. I have to look up our numbers around that period, because it might have changed. Using social media as a commercial tool has a lot of opportunities. For the piano itself, it was more localised. What we did see was customers using their own social media accounts to spread the story about the piano. That’s also why people keep coming. I’m really curious about FRAKTA.  

Daniela: Was word of mouth more important than the campaign? 

Maarten: Well, word of mouth, which used to mean one thing, is now through social media. 

Right. And it has a bigger reach because of it. The Netherlands is a relatively small country, but word of mouth can reach people in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and we’re connected to the world. 

Daniela: Were people taking videos of it when they came in? 

Maarten: Yeah. I remember one video of a guy playing and a lady singing. It was amazing. It was so nice. 

Daniela: What a lovely moment for IKEA. 

Christopher: Yeah. We understand the power of social media. It’s a way we can connect to the customer on a personal level. Our internal marketing team worked on a social media campaign, but what we really saw was the boom in customers creating their own content. That’s where the excitement came from, because customers were enjoying it too. I created my own film when I was there and put it on my social media. So I think making those connections and seeing customers create their own content, and really wanting to be involved in the product, the project and the experience, then sharing that with a wider audience, was important. The uptake and the followers were a golden point as well. It’s amazing to see how social media is changing retail and the way we interact with customers. 

Daniela: You mentioned it in your own way too. You have customers who are always coming, probably a slightly older age group, and they’re enjoying the music. Then you’ve got the younger teens, probably taking videos and putting them online. It’s affecting different age groups all at once. I assume especially with House of FRAKTA. 

Christopher: Every demographic was there with their phones, from the young to the older generation. They were really getting involved. That’s the beauty of social media. We see it as a niche market for young audiences, but it’s a much wider, more expansive audience. It’s great to see customers of different ages interacting and sharing their different moments, thoughts and experiences. 

Daniela: I love that. It’s a good reminder. We always think, “How do we cater to younger audiences and how they show up?” But so many more of us are on social media. If you had an unlimited budget for these ideas, what would you have done? I assume a concert, but what would you have done? 

Maarten: A concert is a good idea. To be honest, it’s not really about the budget. It’s about reaching people in the ways you want to reach them and the goals you want to achieve. Sometimes you need a budget for that, and things cost money. I imagine there were costs involved for Oxford Street. Actually, not many. We borrowed the piano, and we could give it back afterwards. Fun fact: after we got the piano out of the restaurant, we put it in the staff restaurant, and the staff used it for quite some time. It was really nice for our staff. But it’s not like some ideas need money. It is about the budget, and I can probably dream up really good ideas that cost millions. But in the end, it’s about doing, finding ways, and asking why. I can come up with a really good idea for a lot of money, but the question has to be: why, and what result do you want to achieve? If the result is worth it, then the budget might be worth it. 

Christopher: Yeah. I think you have to be cost-conscious.  

Daniela: This is a bad question for cost-consciousness. 

Christopher: Working on House of FRAKTA was a big adventure for us, but we still wanted to be sustainable and maintain a low price point, while showing customers that the experience was possible. A lot of things were recycled from stores, and many of our props came from our agency and were recycled back into the system. I wouldn’t put more money into it. There are experiences we probably could have amplified, but I think what we presented at the budget we had was really good. 

Daniela: I love what I’m hearing: the “why” is so important. I totally agree with you. And the cost-consciousness, you would use money for something specific, but you don’t always need to. Right. And that is really cool. So when I think now about your next award that you’re both going to win, your teams, what do you think your next mistake could be about? What’s the next thing you’re thinking about in the store that could be interesting to customers? 

Maarten: I think there are so many things we can experiment with at the moment, whether it’s omnichannel, the way we sell to customers, or the locations where customers meet. It’s a really exciting time, and there are a lot of good examples around us from other companies. We can borrow a couple of ideas and also learn from other companies’ mistakes, because we’re not the only company making mistakes. So, I find it really hard to say what the next mistake will be. Like I said, there will be many, I hope, and I truly mean that. I hope there will be many because that means we’re moving forward in exciting times.  

Daniela: Do you watch other companies now that you mention it? Are you seeing what other companies are doing and learning from their mistakes too? 

Maarten: Yeah, subconsciously as well. We work in retail, and obviously we’re aware of what competitors are doing, but not just competitors. I read newspapers, look at websites and social media, and every once in a while, I’ll go, “Oh my God, Company X, Y and Z did that. It’s a really good idea. I wish we’d come up with it.” Then we can see what we can do with it. Sometimes it’s the other way around: “Wow, they tried and failed.” But do I actively look for it? To an extent. I think it’s more an awareness of what other companies around you are doing. 

Christopher: I think to your point as well, when we look at other companies, sometimes you think, “That’s not going to work. That’s not going to last.” Then it actually has legs, and you see it developing further, and you think, “Hang on, maybe we should have paid a little bit more attention.” It’s an experience to see how other companies and businesses are experimenting. Social media is a good platform too. Things are on screen for a limited time, so companies can test and experiment in different ways. Staying close to social media is a good way of seeing what companies are doing and how times are changing. 

Daniela: You mentioned the value of a moment, right? It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it can have an impact. “Punch the Monkey” is a great example. It wasn’t costly. It was a beautiful moment that became a larger moment. Social media is important as well. 

Maarten: Yeah. Social media is a low-barrier-entry thing to do. It doesn’t involve a lot of money. You can try a lot of things and fail at a lot of things with a low barrier to entry.  

Christopher: That’s the great thing: finding moments where you can test something and take a risk. You could go down the path of creating something extravagant, and it might not work out. But if you find   something temporary, or something you can put into the everyday, that’s where you can take those moments and experiment.  

Daniela: I love that. And back to this idea of entrepreneurship: do you think IKEA’s values helped with these ideas? You talk about entrepreneurship and leading by example. Did any of these values play into the ideas?  

Maarten: Yeah. The values are the backbone of what we do. I can only speak for myself: IKEA really attracts me. I’ve found the values to be lived and made important, as they should be. Ingvar is such an inspirational example. I think he was one of the main entrepreneurs talking about these mistakes, and it’s through him that we’re so open about it and accepting it. It has to do with all the values we have. It makes IKEA what IKEA is, not just a big company, but a big company with the values it has and being true to them. I can talk about the good things from IKEA for an hour: the foundation, sustainability and all those things. But it’s a genuine thing, which I really appreciate. 

Christopher: For House of FRAKTA, it was a lot of teamwork. As I mentioned previously, a lot of different functions and capabilities came together to create this moment. It was about creating a safe space where we could challenge things, take opportunities, bring our experiences and specialisms to the table, and say, “We can do it this way,” or “We can do it that way.” Then we came together. Togetherness was a key value for me. 

Daniela: I love it when companies have these big words, like togetherness, and then you hear a real example of it, where you actually came together as a team and everybody’s input mattered. 

Maarten: Yeah, when you genuinely experience it. 

Daniela: Last but not least, if you could leave our readers or listeners with something about your ideas, what would you want to tell them? Why should they try new things?  

Maarten: I think it’s all been said. It’s about doing and asking why. But do it, because in a world like today, with social media and everything moving really, really quickly, you have to keep up and you have to move. You’re not going to move if you’re not going to make mistakes. If I take anything from it, it’s about doing it, doing it, doing it, doing it. Evaluate. Look at it. What did we do? Did we make a mistake, or did we have a great idea? Keep moving. 

Daniela: I really like this idea of not spending so long evaluating. Do it. 

Maarten: Yeah, we’re very good at evaluating things. Cut that short. Get the highlights from it and then implement it, or don’t. I like this move. Yeah. Keep moving. 

Christopher: It’s all about taking risks for me and reflecting on experiences, hearing stories about where we maybe missed an opportunity or where we saw value. Going forward, reflecting on my personal experience with House of FRAKTA, I think it’s about understanding how change can make a difference. It’s about bending the rules, not breaking them. Seeing the opportunities and taking an idea forward, either celebrating its success or celebrating the mistake. We need to own that. 

Daniela: Did you see both our previous or former CEO talking about the banana card? “Go bananas, make mistakes.” That’s what it’s about. It reminds me of what you said: bend, don’t break the rules, but bend them a little. Push the envelope. 

Maarten: Yeah. We’re both here in Sweden at the moment. But meeting up, talking about these things, sometimes in person, sometimes through Teams, and sharing them is a huge part of it. 

Christopher: Yeah. And I think I said “go bananas” when that came around. Co-workers jumped when they loved the idea of saying, “Hang on, you’ve got free expression; you can test.” I think everyone just kind of thought, “Hang on, I can make a change here. I’ve got this little idea. It may not come to anything, but I can bring it to the table and see where it goes.”  

Daniela: I love that. To wrap this up, what’s your favourite part about this idea and the experience you were part of? 

Maarten: All of it, really. It was very much a team effort. You mentioned togetherness as a value, but it was the working together, making mistakes together and seeing customers doing things in the restaurant, sometimes participating in ways you don’t want them to participate, because that’s the whole thing, right? But it’s the doing things. 

Christopher: For me, it was the challenges, going through the whole process from start to finish. At the time, you start thinking, “Are we doing the right thing?” Then you hear each other out. When the doors open and you see the customers’ expressions, and they’re really enjoying the experience, you think, “Actually, we did a really good job here.”  

Daniela: Really good. Well, it’s so exciting to have you both here talking about the Entrepreneur of the Year Award that you won at IKEA. I hope you create so much more and make way more mistakes so we can follow along. Thanks for coming here today.