In a joint-venture with China’s TCL multimedia, IKEA will design and launch a line of sound systems and televisions as a complement to their furniture in at least five European cities this June. The furniture company, which is famous for their budget-friendly, DIY products, have given us yet another opportunity to own generic Bauhaus-inspired products and contribute to their hefty turnover, which was estimated at 2.97 billion euros during the 2010/2011 fiscal year. more ›

Here's more on the DaVinci media extortion case to which real estate mogul Pan Shiyi recently alluded to. The Singapore-based furniture company has accused a CCTV journalist by the name of Li Wenxue (李文学) of fabricating his reports and extorting 1 million yuan from the firm. Ho Aili, Beijing correspondent of the Straits Times, writes: more ›

DaVinci, the furniture chain that was accused of labelling its locally sourced products as being "Made in Italy" and which later ran one nightmare of a press conference, has closed all four of its outlets in Shanghai. more ›

Last month, international media had a field day when an American blogger in Kunming discovered a fake Apple store that showed an unusual level of fidelity to the original. But as anyone who's been to an electronics market in China knows, this isn't exactly news. However, there's a new well-conceived copycat concept in Kunming that's caught our attention this week: none other than Swedish furniture-for-lazy-people giant IKEA has received the royal shanzhai treatment! more ›

"...[S]ome local furniture dealers have withdrawn claims that their products are fully imported, admitting to Shanghai Daily that the furniture was in fact made in China or other developing countries. In an outlet of Yuexing Homes in Jing'an District, Shanghai Daily found that sales personnel no longer said their products were fully imported. Sales persons for several brands, such as Duke York, Mahogany, and Lucca Magic, all said that their products were produced either on the Chinese mainland or in Indonesia. Executives from France-based Roche Bobois said in Shanghai yesterday that they have suffered considerable loss recently, as most new clients canceled their orders after the DaVinci scandal. The company wouldn't disclose the size of the losses." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Since national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) aired a report alleging that "Made in Italy" products sold at luxury furniture retailer DaVinci are actually made in China, the company, which retails such top brands as Armani Casa, Fendi Casa and Versace Home, has become a target of national scorn. more ›

Hopefully this new Ikea will allow more opportunities to see some sexy portrait shots on display furniture. According to CNN GO, Shanghai's second Ikea actually opens up today in Pudong. At 49,400 square meters, it's the largest in Asia and the second largest in the world, beat only by IKEA Skärholmen near Stockholm. more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

A very recent story by the LA Times reminded us of one of our favorite threads in the Shanghai Expat forums: Chinese behaving badly at the Ikea in Shanghai. According to the article about the Swedish furniture maker's Beijing location, shopping for actual Ikea goodies can sometimes seem like getting a souvenir at the end of a trip to a theme park. A furniture theme park: more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

Recliners made by the Dongguan-based company Linkwise are causing cases of eczema, stinging allergic rashes and infections among French customers who bought them. The problems were traced to the use of the chemical, dimethyl fumarate, which is used to prevent mould and fungus on the chairs. The French distributor Conforama has since severed its business ties with Linkwise and told its suppliers to stop all use of the chemical. Out of the 38,000 Linkwise chairs it sold, it says customers have returned about 800 so far. A rash of cases has also cropped up in Britain, Sweden and Finland. One British attorney is now representing 1,300 customers and suing Linkwise for compensation. [Source] more ›