World Flatpack Championship

I saw this yesterday, and I make a note of it here because I have used assembling Ikea furniture as an analogy for the way girls in DGD have learned the logic of coding.

I have insisted that, in both cases, a kind of ambient or tacit learning comes into play. Without ever studying, or attempting to learn, the logic of assembling flatpack furniture, people who make a lot of it nonetheless absorb some or all of the inner logic and get more proficient and faster.

According to the BBC website,

A woman who took just over nine and a half minutes to build a bedside table has said she was “thrilled” to become the first person to be crowned Flatpack World Champion.

The inaugural Flatpack World Championships saw eight competitors battle it out to build flatpack furniture as speedily as they could, at the opening of Grand Designs Live at ExCel London.

Hayley McAuley from Wigan said it had been a “rollercoaster” but after taking a mere nine minutes and 33 seconds to build a bedside table, she proved she had the speed and determination needed to become a champion.

For those who insist on knowing all the details, “the contest was split into two rounds and involved participants making bookcases and bedside tables”, and the prize consisted of “a golden hex key medal”.

And Ms McAuley said that she has “always thought I’m a bit of a machine when it comes to building flatpack furniture”.