Designers of IKEA: Designers, Products and Other Stuff - Softcover

Staffan Bengtsson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9185689068 ISBN 13: 9789185689064

Publisher: Arvinius Forlag, 2009

Synopsis

Along with Volvo and ABBA, IKEA is Sweden's most internationally successful brand. In recent years, furniture pieces from IKEA have occasionally turned up at international design auctions. These inexpensive, owner-assembled, everyday products have become collectors' items. Meanwhile, the designers behind the furniture at IKEA have long remained unknown to most of us. IKEA the book brings them into the limelight to describe their creative and successful work. The book takes the reader on a journey into the internationally celebrated world of Scandinavian design. What ideals are IKEA's designs based on? What makes the KLIPPAN sofa and the BILLY bookcase as sought after in Basel and New York as in Stockholm? How did Ingvar Kamprad get world-famous designers like Verner Panton and Hella Jongerius to create original pieces for mass production in IKEA's factories? IKEA the book is more than a walk through the fantastic history of The Great Furniture Factory;it holds something for anyone with an interest in design processes and stylistic ideals.

About this title

Synopsis:

Since its humble beginnings as a small cut-price mail order company in 1943, IKEA has gone on to become the most successful home furniture retailer in the world. With their "affordable solutions for better living" mission statement, and commitment to excellent design, IKEA has created a range of products that not only look and feel great in the home, but are also eagerly sought-after by collectors the world over."Designers of IKEA" is an engaging and insightful examination of the ideas, concepts, and designers behind one of the best-loved brands in the world. This volume also features a number of unique illustrations showing everything from IKEA's very first range to its vast present-day collection of turn-key beauty for everyman.

From the Inside Flap:

"Not for the rich but for the smart" - a perfect motto for IKEA, the company that has spent half a century democratizing good design. This monumental, lavishly illustrated book - almost 500 full-color pages as full of beauty, bright ideas and cool surprises as a visit to IKEA itself - is the first complete presentation ever of the phenomenon that is the world's most successful furniture enterprise. It's an incredible resource for anyone interested in contemporary design and consumer culture.

From Swedish publisher Arvinius, this book tells IKEA's story from its origins as a mail-order company. It details breakthroughs like the invention of the hex wrench and the flat pack, which let the cutting-edge retail giant serve almost 600 million customers in 25 countries in 2009. Chapters showcase the hit parade of the most popular pieces over the decades (the Billy bookshelf has sold millions), and interviews with some of the chain's top designers reveal their surprising passion for the store and its visionary founder, Ingvar Kamprad.

This first-edition book itself is destined to be a collector's edition: impeccably printed in Europe, it is published with three different cover colors (pink, green and brown, each with its own ISBN). After a year or so, IKEA will offer its own mass-produced version in a smaller trim size and lower print quality. Like the vintage IKEA catalogs now selling on eBay, get this while you can.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arvinius Forlag
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 9185689068
• ISBN 13: 9789185689064
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 350