So you’ve got all of their furniture, and you’ve probably tried an IKEA hack or two. But, if you stop to consider it, how much do you know about the Swedish home-furnishing company that has made furnishing your house so much more affordable? Probably not a lot until now:
1- The company has been operating for more than 70 years.
For a store with a notably modern design style, IKEA’s existence started around the time gingham kitchens were popular. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who was just 17 at the time of its inception, launched IKEA as a mail-order sales firm that initially sold tiny items like picture frames. He is now 89 years old and worth almost $4 billion.
Not-so-fun fact: Kamprad was a Nazi sympathizer in his youth. However, he refers to that time as “the greatest mistake of my life,” and even penned a letter to staff asking them to forgive him.
2- The first flat-pack item wasn’t offered until 1956.
The invention was created by a Gillis Lundgren technical design drafter. He chopped off the legs of his table to make it fit in his car when he discovered that a wooden table would not do so. The rest is, as they say, history.
3- The name IKEA is an acronym.
if you thought IKEA was just a Swedish term, you were incorrect. The letters stand for the founder’s initials (Ingvar Kamprad), the first farm he worked on (Elmtaryd), and the town where it was situated (Agunnaryd, Sweden). He appeared to be a sentimental guy.
4- Each item is given a name that relates to real language.
IKEA names things after proper names and words since it makes them simpler to identify. For example, many items in a living room are named after locations in Sweden, whereas bathroom furnishings are named after lakes and rivers.
5- If you reside in Scandinavia or the United Kingdom, you may purchase an IKEA house.
No, we aren’t talking about a house full of IKEA furnishings. The firm sells flat-packed houses for a fraction of the price of a normal home – no salesman required. In 1996, the company released the BoKlok House as their initial attempt. Don’t worry, if this isn’t available in your area yet, you can still make use of IKEA delivery services to get a similar satisfaction.
6- More than the Bible, every year IKEA publishes a larger number of copies of its catalogue.
According to The Economist, 100 million Bibles are sold or given away each year. However, the IKEA catalogue (in its vast and limitless reach) reaches out to 180 million people in 27 different languages every year. Here’s a vintage example from 1951.
7- IKEA mattresses are popular among couples in Europe, where one in 10 babies is thought to be born on one.
If that doesn’t demonstrate the company’s popularity, we may not know what will.
8- The typical size of an IKEA shop is 300,000 square feet.
This translates to 42 tennis courts.
9- IKEA consumes roughly 1% of the Earth’s wood supply.
You’re probably thinking, “1% is nothing.” But consider this: IKEA is just one furniture business among thousands of others throughout the world, not to mention all of the firms that utilize wood for non-furniture purposes.
It’s not particularly uncommon to see the MALM dresser on the wall of your friend’s home, is it? (umm, everyone?)
10- IKEA was mentioned in three different seasons of “Friends.”
You most likely recall Pottery Barn and huge sofa-moving when you think of Friends and furniture. However, IKEA appears three times throughout the series, starting with “The One With All the Poker” in 1995. Now excuse us as we binge-watch the show to identify all three references.
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