What does IKEA stand for?
Quick answer
IKEA is an acronym made from founder Ingvar Kamprad’s initials (I.K.), plus Elmtaryd, the family farm where he grew up, and Agunnaryd, his nearby village in Småland, southern Sweden. Kamprad founded the company in 1943, when he was just 17, at first selling pens, wallets and other small items by mail.
Key facts
- I
- Ingvar
- K
- Kamprad
- E
- Elmtaryd (family farm)
- A
- Agunnaryd (village)
From pens to furniture
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1943 | Ingvar Kamprad founds IKEA at 17 |
| 1948 | Starts selling furniture made by local makers |
| 1951 | First IKEA catalog |
| 1956 | Begins flat-pack furniture after an employee removes the legs of a table to fit it in a car |
| 1958 | First IKEA store opens in Älmhult, Sweden |
| 2021 | The printed catalog ends after 70 years |
The flat-pack idea
Selling furniture flat, for customers to assemble at home, cut costs for transport and storage and made furniture cheaper. It became IKEA’s trademark, along with its blue-and-yellow stores, maze-like layouts and Swedish meatballs.
How IKEA names its products
Kamprad had dyslexia and found names easier to remember than product numbers, so IKEA uses words:
| Product type | Named after |
|---|---|
| Sofas, armchairs | Swedish place names |
| Beds, wardrobes | Norwegian place names |
| Rugs | Danish place names |
| Bookcases | Occupations or boys’ names, like Billy |
| Fabrics, curtains | Girls’ names |
The Billy bookcase, launched in 1979, is one of the best-selling furniture items ever.
Ingvar Kamprad
Kamprad (1926–2018) was famous for his frugality, reportedly driving an old Volvo and flying economy despite being one of the world’s richest people. He wrote a famous company manifesto, The Testament of a Furniture Dealer (1976).
IKEA today
IKEA operates hundreds of stores in more than 60 countries, through a complex ownership structure based in the Netherlands and Sweden. For more about Sweden’s traditions, see the country that celebrates Midsummer with maypoles. For other acronyms, see what an acronym is.
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