ORDNA

 Spring 2025|14 Weeks|Individual Project 

Ordna is an affordable five drawer insert for the IKEA Kallax shelving system. It has been carefully designed and optimized for storing and sorting LEGO Bricks.


The insert Frame is assembled first, filling one cubicle in the Ikea Kallax Shelving Unit.

Organization.


Each drawer features four adjustable units that can fit all sorts of LEGO brick dimensions.

Completed Unit.

Install.

Transport.


The intuitive handle design allows for the drawers to be easily carried with one hand when removed from the frame.

Ordna is rooted in quick repeatable manufacturing processes.

The project brief:

  • Redesign a current IKEA product

  • Expand on an existing collaboration

  • design an entirely new product for IKEA

I chose to expand upon IKEA’s brick storage collaboration with The LEGO Group.

LEGO x IKEA Original Collab.

Collaboration insights.


  • Three sizes of storage containers

  • Lid covered in studs for play opportunities

  • could not fit many pieces

  • Had no ability to be used at a larger scale.

  • Not well received.

LEGO’s Recent Growth

  • There are 371 user groups recognized by The LEGO Group and 471 Globally recognized events.

  • The adult market for LEGO is growing making up 15% of sales in 2024. In the same year, The LEGO Group released over 50 sets catered to adult collectors, up from 12 just 10 years ago.

  • During Covid, LEGO’s already rising sales surged exponentially.

The existing LEGO specific storage products all have the same issue being small scale and cost prohibitive. Alternative options are also expensive and pose challenges because they are not optimized for LEGO often leading to wasted space.

User Interview with Jesse

  • Jesse’s LEGO space is shared with the dining room so being able to quickly take out and put away parts is essential.

  • Jesse uses the popular Alex shelving units for part of his storage, however they are expensive and the drawers can sag under the weight of the LEGO bricks. He also uses Kalax shelves, but is unhappy with the soft container inserts in each cubicle. each container is very deep making it hard to find pieces stored inside.

  • Being able to adjust his sorting compartments is crucial because various brick quantities are always changing while in a the process of building projects.

My research concluded that there is a large demand for affordable LEGO storage due to the influx of collecting. I aim for this product to inspire these new builders to go beyond the instructions and build their own LEGO builds.

After the initial rounds of sketches I chose three main concepts to make into small scale models.

Once I had spent time evaluating my small scale models, it was very apparent that designing an insert for an existing Ikea furniture line was the best way to execute on all my ideas: affordable, simply manufactured, can fit into a LEGO room or Living room, matches IKEA’s assembly style.

When finalizing my design, I made sure to use only relatively simple manufacturing techniques to ensure that I could make almost every part exactly how the final product would be manufactured. This afforded me the ability to really proof out my concept and see what’s working and what’s not.

I started with 1/4 scale vacform tests to see what form produced the best structural rigidity.

The finished drawers were made from 1/8in polystyrene on a poplar CNC milled buck.

Vacform insights.


I originally had hoped to 3D print the bucks for vacforming, however even with high temp ABS small scale tests, I could only get a few pulls before the buck would begin to melt.

The vacuum forming process did deliver on being a quick affordable solution to manufacturing my drawers. However there is more to be done to the overall shape to prevent warping and sticking to the buck once cooled.

I simulated injection molded parts through 3D printing.

3D printed drawer fronts prior to sanding and painting.

Injection Mold Insights.


All the “injection molded” components are optimized for simple two part molds with no overhangs.

The final challenge of my design, were the bent sheet metal components. I had to make ten shelf brackets, so finding an efficient way to manufacture them was crucial.

The drawer brackets hook into the side walls and lock down with a few screws.

CNC Bending Insights.

CNC Bending Insights.



Each part is CNC plasma cut out of a flat sheet of 18 gauge mild sheet steel. Then precision bent on a CNC press brake.

I quickly realized that bent hook design was not achievable with the tools I had available, and manually doing it took far too long. The result was machining a set of custom fit dies that actually sped up my manufacturing process allowing each part to lock into its exact place to execute the bend.

Project Posters.

Completed Model.