Week 5 -- Kristina Nguyen

From reading the articles and pure observation, I believe how Denmark remade itself and changed their image is from the movement of Danish Modern and the rise of such companies that facilitate it, such as IKEA. Denmark elevated it's aesthetics by looking at the international competition of furniture and started weighing the possibilities of how they can be better than other countries. Denmark's "raw materials were primarily imported from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Asian countries ... [which] demonstrates an integration of the specialized supplier function" (Hedemann and Nissen 22). This type of furniture (DIY furniture similar to those from IKEA) "proved suitable for transportation, due to the reduced bulk density" which made it extremely popular to the middle-class and wealthy people (26). Danish Modern furniture succeeded in it's home country and internationally in the U.S. for two reasons, the first is that "the creation of certain narratives framed the way consumers made sense of this furniture," and the second is, "the development of a social network of individuals and organizations promoted and legitimized these narratives" (Hansen 451). The narratives mentioned in Hansen's article can be described as what they want to represent with a piece of furniture. For example, if one consumer wanted to present a bohemian/vintage aesthetic, they would opt to purchase furniture that is rustic (such as wooden table that has a natural wood finish). 

Some lessons I can draw from this to pertain to my group is that we don't necessarily have to do everything from the inside out. The Danish Modern movement used sources from outside Denmark to make their furniture. I think that if my group found the strengths of our country despite the negativity that may surround it, we would be able to tackle our project more efficiently.

Source: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/stages-going-ikea-first-time

Sources:

Hansen, Per H. "Networks, Narratives, and New Markets: The Rise and Decline of Danish Modern 

      Furniture Design, 1930-1970." The Business History Review. Vol 80, No 3 (Autumn, 2006) pp 

      449-483. 

Hedemann, Lars and Mogens Rostgaard Nissen. "The Internationalization of Danish Furniture: A 

      Value Chain Perspective." pp 15-36.