Anyone who's bought low-cost modernist furniture from IKEA has learned to deal with its cardboard spoor, and now IKEA itself may be coming up with some ideas. The cardboard camera above apparently came with press kits at the IKEA Fuorisalone design expo in Milan; it's powered by two standard batteries and has internal storage that allows it to hold up to 40 shots. A snap-out USB interface seen at the top is supposed to let you transfer the photos, after which the camera can be wiped and used again.

Gizmodo Italy says that the camera will soon be on sale in IKEA stores, but for now the only evidence of it is the photos we've seen. Unfortunately, we haven't found any pictures actually taken with the camera, so the picture quality and the longevity of the camera itself are still a mystery. We just hope the components are sold in a box along with instructions for putting them together... using the box itself as the body.

Update: See a great video of the camera in action by its developers, Teenage Engineering, below, and here's IKEA's user manual.