Are the Swedish in Heaven? I am going to sub-contract the design of my heavenly mansion to IKEA

LABOUR DAY. It's Labour Day weekend and a long holiday for you and the sinner! I bet there must be millions out there who are thinking..."Hmm, let us visit the Cathedral of Design" and getting into their cars, trains and buses, and heading to the nearest IKEA. What is it about the Swedes that they are so canny with their tinkering hands to turn a spigot or spatula into a work of art? Is it the food they eat? Or maybe the weather? - "Sven (they are all called Sven), it is cold again today. Let's stay indoors and design a table-mat that will take the retail world by storm!"

IKEA CATALOGUE. I mean, just take a look at their annual catalogue for goodness's sake! For me, it is a work of sublime creativity. So cosy, so pretty, both traditional and cool, and ever so subtly sexy in that non-threatening Swedish nanny kinda way. When the catalogue arrives at my house, I would grab it, go up to my room and lock the door, to spend quality intimate moments with my Swedish book of fantasies. The IKEA catalogue isn't just a retail propaganda, my friend, it's a dream-machine. A work of mass market genius.

IF I GET TO HEAVEN, I am going to sub-contract the design work for my heavenly mansion to the Swedes. "Will the Swedish be in heaven?", you ask? Based on IKEA alone, I expect them to be there alright. Hmm... but then again, they are also responsible for VOLVO and SAAB.

Let me get back to you on that.

Have a perfectly wonderful day, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa