Aalo is a Lego-like furniture system made with customizable, reusable, and hackable parts that let individuals be the designer. Aalo enables by-the-inch customization in just a few clicks and allows DIY designs to be created for unique spaces in a home.

Hi Everyone! 👋 I'm Sejun, Founder at Aalo. We're building a modular furniture system that actually looks good (finally!) and can serve multiple form and functions throughout its lifecycle so that it doesn't have to end up in a landfill every time you move. Aalo was started after my frustrating and wasted attempt at "hacking" an Ikea shelf by cutting it, only to have it thrown away after realizing it was made out of cardboard without any weight support. Other customizable furniture options in the market were out of reach for my budget, so I decided to develop a patent-pending, Lego-like assembly system that can be used to create minimal furniture designs and also be used as an easy DIY tool. Being a Lego collector and a manufacturing engineer probably contributed to creation of this project. I'd be happy to answer any questions and hear your feedback! Thanks :)

@sejunpark how’s this different from the stuff you get at IKEA?

@tjpatel Hi Trishul, I'd say we're not trying to compare ourselves with IKEA, but rather compliment it in a way that it provides different values to individuals. In short: IKEA = Super affordable and standardized furniture you can walk right out of the store with. Aalo = High quality, easy to assemble and non-standardized furniture that lets you have control over the shape and size of your unique items. In comparison to IKEA in specific, their entry level products are constructed with MDF (fibreboard) and honeycomb cardboard, but we couldn't rely on these materials to build our robust assembly structure. Instead, our products are made with aluminum with textured powder coating finish. We've also been seeing growing support from individuals who are looking for something more unique and personalized than what you would normally get at stores like IKEA. Another thing worth mentioning is the notion of disposable furniture that often comes with such brands, and with our simple assembly/disassembly design we make it easy to move it with you, and even modify its form and function to better fit your new space if needed, so that it doesn't have to end up in landfill each time you move. If we were to be compared with IKEA, it'd be fair to compare our products to their own "modular & hackable" furniture line introduced this month called DELAKTIG (http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/produc...). With a similar aluminum construction, the 2-seat sofa retails at £575 (~$700USD) with more limited level of modularity for now. It'd be interesting to see how this new market develops! Hope this helps. Thank you!

I went to the website and saw the prices. Minimalist furniture should have minimalist prices. It seems this is the "modern art" of furnishings.

Bookshelf on aalo = $220

IKEA's Laiva bookshelf = $19.99

Pros:

Looks good

Cons:

Prices are outrageous

Thanks for your comment. While we're striving to bring more cost savings into our product offerings in the future, our aim is not to compete nor compare with Ikea's pricing model especially with their entry level products. I'm a big fan of Ikea myself and what they have built, but we'd like to differentiate ourselves by providing a new type of furniture that can take multiple forms, can be played around with, and have high quality materials. Having said that, with our common parts design we might be able to offer more variety of pricing options in the future once we achieve economy of scale. Thanks!

To use IKEA's own trademark slogan "impossible price!"

@monirom Seriously, right?? And it took them decades of planning and development to get there. We hope to achieve something similar someday without compromising our modularity and quality :)

Nice work, @sejunpark. I've been a fan of the minimal design since we first met. Which product is most popular so far?

@rrhoover Hey Ryan, thanks for the kind words! Our plant stand and the towel ladder have been the most popular so far, and we've added bunch of new items today so we'll see if that changes! AA-014 Minimal Plant Stand https://shop.aalo.co/collections... AA-008 Towel Ladder Rack https://shop.aalo.co/collections...

Aalo

Lego-like furniture with beautiful & minimal design

Lego-like furniture with beautiful & minimal design

Aalo

Lego-like furniture with beautiful & minimal design

Lego-like furniture with beautiful & minimal design

Do you use Aalo?

Do you use Aalo?

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