Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like Ikea is one of the last bastions of monoculture. It’s popular all around the world, and the experience of it is singular. It’s the fast food of home furnishings. 

I’ve been to Ikea twice in my life, and both times were odysseys of the body and mind. When you first enter, it’s like stepping foot in a playground of well-furnished rooms. It’s so fun to look at all the decorations– you’re imagining your new life, you’re spinning in chairs. It starts to get a little weird in the table section, seeing all of the choices lined up in a neat row. Where things really go south is when you’ve made your selections, and then it’s time to retrieve the boxes from the shelves. Many a friendship has been lost there. And when you get home, a new journey begins. Think of these memes as Ikea furniture. It has disparate parts, and some assembly is required, but together they create something beautiful, functional, and affordable.