Thanks to their new Youtube show Hikea, Brooklyn-based content creators Alex Taylor and Hunter Fine have given us instructions on hating (or loving) Ikea even more than we already do.
Every episode involves two brave characters ingesting psychedelic drugs, such as LSD or ‘shrooms, and subsequently attempting to build something ambitious such as an Ikea dresser.
Perhaps also on psychedelics, Taylor and Fine took a whole year to finish three episodes of Hikea so far, with help from No.6 Editorial and Heard City Audio, with original music from JTram (drummer of the band Sinkane).
Their first episode takes place in an apartment in, yes, Bushwick (near the Park Street and Beaver Street). The four-minute video involves characters Giancarlo and Nicole dropping LSD before putting together a dresser.
Being frustrated while putting together Ikea furniture is a common first world problem and a feeling many of us share.
“It’s a struggle we all know. And many people have probably attempted it under some mild influences like beer or weed. So it seemed naturally relatable to amplify the degree of difficulty with something a little stronger,” says Taylor.
Characters in the series are secured via Craigslist and episodes are shot right in the characters’ homes.
“The shoots would always start [getting] interesting with the people introducing themselves, their drug histories, then actually taking and experiencing the drugs,” says Taylor. Revealing some transparency within the making of Hikea, he continues, “Sometimes nothing would happen for an hour at a time while they just sat there staring at the instructions, so we’d have to prompt them a bit to talk about what they were thinking.”
As far as Ikea ever finding out about the show, Taylor says: “I can’t see how they’d be upset by it. Building Ikea furniture is so essential and universal, we’re just having fun with it.”
Though Taylor and Fine had no real expectation with Hikea and going forward would have everything to do with its response from viewers, it is already looking like we can expect more Hikea in the future. “We just wanted to put some fun, happy content out there that had a real conceptual hook … now that people are enjoying them, we may have to make more,” Taylor says.
Featured image courtesy of Hikea