American consumers who learned about design through Ikea are starting to appreciate other brands and are "very ready and ripe" for online retailers like Ahalife, according to Shauna Mei, founder of the e-commerce site that has just hired former Net-A-Porter director Christopher Colfer to drive the brand's global expansion (+ exclusive interview).
"The average consumers, especially in America ? where 85 per cent of our audience is based ? are really not savvy when it comes to design brands," Mei told Dezeen.
"We have an internal joke that a lot of Americans are like Ikea graduates ? Ikea taught them design for the first time, and now they're starting to appreciate design."

Related story: Ikea's "Chuck out your chintz" ads changed British taste, says the man who wrote the slogan
Mei believes that Ahalife can become a new type of shopping platform for America's recent crop of design aficionados.
She founded the company with the aim to create a global online marketplace for homeware, fashion accessories, cosmetics and gadgets. It currently offers products by over 4,000 designers and artisans in more than 45 countries.
"We can not only serve as a portal for these amazing designers from all over the world to plug in and reach a global audience, but the savvy demographic within the US that's looking for design to pick up," said Mei.
"That's the vision for Ahalife. We think that the United States, and gl...