Swedish furniture giant Ikea, known for its meatballs and Swedish-sounding product names has a different claim to fame in Crognaleto, in Italy’s Abruzzo region. Ikea has built the town, hit by repeated earthquakes, a new and quake-proof school.
A sizable chunk of the funding actually came from Ikea employees: 7,000 of Ikea’s Italian workers asked the company to use funds earmarked for staff Christmas gifts for the project. The new school, which will serve 60 students in the town of 1,300, replacing two schools that were destroyed.
Going to school in the new building will be both a strange and familiar experience for the students. The building is decorated in bright colors Swedish-style…but in a country where Ikea is a big factor in the furniture business, the desks and chairs should make the students feel ‘right at home.’
