IKEA designs all it’s products, it’s Dragon cutlery range has been popular for years but how is the design brought to life? A 3D CAD model is sent to the factory in China where the stainless steel sheets are cut, bent or mould injected, polished and packaged for shipment to IKEA’s European distribution centre. This operation is huge consisting of 907 machines and 1,400 staff. Ever other piece of cutlery is individually wrapped in plastic, placed on a piece of cardboard, held together with zip ties and sealed with a plastic cover. This is a large amount of plastic for such small items. It does however make the cutlery more stackable for shipping.