January 29, 2026
IKEA vibes meet the Swedish name police
Skapa, a parametric 3D printing app like an IKEA manual (2025)
Cool printable boxes, but Swedish spelling cops and an IKEA name clash crash the party
TLDR: A solo dev launched Skapa, a site to design and 3D print custom boxes for IKEA pegboards. Comments exploded over Swedish spelling and that “Skapa” is IKEA’s design system, blending grammar police and nerd jokes as makers shrugged and hit print
An indie dev dropped Skapa, a site that lets you punch in box sizes and instantly download 3D‑printable containers for IKEA’s Skadis pegboards. The vibe is pure IKEA manual—black and white, chunky letters, big outlines—and the model even snaps and flips 180° on click (a.k.a. the dev’s nerdy “π rads” flex). It runs in your browser using Three.js (a tool for 3D graphics), and you can try it at skapa.build. Sounds wholesome, right? Enter the comments, where the real show begins.
First, the grammar police stormed in: “It’s ‘skapa,’ not ‘skåpa’,” corrected mitchbob, turning a launch into Swedish 101. Then the plot twist: commenter nchagnet said “Skapa” is already IKEA’s design system, linking a video. Cue side‑eye, brand‑confusion fears, and jokes about the dev’s “please don’t sue me” font swap. Meanwhile, maker energy hummed: ge96 dropped the glorious nerd gag “Promise<Manifold> … (hits print),” nodding to the modeling tech under the hood. Others laughed at the app’s “Is that an SVG?” backstory—then happily dragged the model to prove it’s actually 3D. The mood? Excited to print, but also clutching pearls over the name. The community’s verdict: love the tool, fix the Swedish, and maybe call IKEA before IKEA calls you
Key Points
- •Skapa is a web app that generates custom 3D‑printable boxes for IKEA Skadis pegboards.
- •The UI emulates IKEA manuals with black‑and‑white visuals and strong outlines, using orthographic projection.
- •Interaction is limited to vertical rotation with snapping and 180° rotation on click to demonstrate 3D without complex controls.
- •A mobile interaction issue was solved by capturing input events only when they land on the 3D part, enabling page scrolling.
- •The tech stack includes manifold‑3d for model generation and Three.js for rendering; code is available on GitHub, with a Printables entry.