Who could say no to a tour of Ikea HQ? Not I, for one. So when the company asked if I might tag along for its Democratic Design Days conference, I found myself only too eager to see what really makes the big box retailer tick. Ikea HQ might be the closest IRL thing to Santa's workshop, after all — and it's pretty darn close to the North Pole, too.

I spent the day trawling the compound in Älmhult, Sweden to discover everything about the brand, from its quality control practices to its history, proudly on display in the soon-to-open Ikea Museum. And I, of course, documented the entire thing on Snapchat, if only to remind myself that I'm technically a millennial. Click through for a GIF-tastic tour that proves it's Ikea's world — we're just living in it.