IKEA Introduces ThisAbles Project

With the help of 3D printers, IKEA is making furniture better for people living with disabilities.
The project, dubbed ThisAbles, started off in the IKEA store with a hackathon of product engineers and disabled people that enabled a better understanding of their needs. At the end of the developing process, 13 new products were born each solving a different accessibility issue such as sofa elevating legs for easier ascending, lamp button enlargement, special handles for Pax closets, a plastic pad that protects the bottom of a glass-doored Billy bookcase from the bump of a wheelchair, and more.
As the largest furniture manufacturer in the world, IKEA's vision is to "create a better everyday life for as many people as possible." To do that, IKEA joined forces with the non-profit organizations Milbat and Access Israel that specialize in creating special solutions for populations with special needs and disabilities.
The new products are presented in the world's first "accessible living spaces" in the IKEA stores. The new models are available for download from the project's website, ThisAbles.com and 3D printing anywhere in the world.
ThisAbles is proactively taking requests from the community for its next designs. As the initiative explains on its site, "We do not guarantee that we will be able to find a solution for every need, but we promise to try."
Learn more here .