7 little known facts about IKEA!

Gather around folks, and let’s play a game of guess the fact. We’ve made slipcovers for many IKEA sofas, but never explored the rich history of this company.

Currently we have 7 of these but hope to grow this list even further, so do let us know if we missed out anything 🙂

1. Umbrellas are priced differently depending on the weather

That’s right. On rainy days, umbrellas are half off; and on hot, sunny days the price doubles!

2. The POÄNG armchair is 38 years old

A few more years and it’ll be old enough to be your granddad! Designed by a man called Noboru Nakamura in 1977 with the goal of creating an “armchair for life”, it was renamed from POEM to the now eternal POÄNG in 1992.

3. IKEA beds didn’t sell at all in the US until they changed one small thing

Americans were confused at numbers like “160 cm” on the label of the beds, hence they hesitated on buying. Once IKEA switched to Queen and King sizing, sales more than doubled.

4. IKEA-ville is real and under construction in London!

3D Render of Strand East, by IKEA

Strand East is the name of this new township, which covers 26 acres and will feature shops, schools, hotels and flat-packed houses. That’s right, the BoKlock house will be the main residences here. IKEA isn’t planning on selling them either, but merely renting them out.

5. There’s an IKEA museum in Amhult containing a file cabinet with rejected IKEA names

Snippets include ANIS, FANNY, GUTVIK (only if you sprechen Deutsche). No, we’re not making this up.

6. IKEA claims to have run the first ever ad featuring a gay couple in 1994!

Called “Dining Room”, it was part of the Lifestyle campaign IKEA launched in 1993. The ad was inspired by actual IKEA customers who visited a store in New Jersey. According to art director Patrick O’Neil, IKEA “believed in it from the beginning. They were never nervous about it.”

7. IKEA is actually Dutch

You’d think that they would be Swedish right?

The Kamprad family owns IKEA through a complex network of companies which ends in a non-profit, tax-exempt, Dutch stichtingen entity. The end result: €19m paid in tax on their combined profits of €553m in 2004.

Takeaway

I would end with a brief mention on how slipcoverable IKEA sofas are, but you already knew that didn’t you 😉 So let me know your favourite IKEA facts or tricks in the comments, hopefully you’ve learned something new to impress your friends with!

Sources:
The Economist, The IKEA Story: Ingvar Kamprad Talks to Bertil Torekull, Spiegel, New Yorker, AdWeek