The PASS rug was one of the first with an original pattern owned by IKEA. IKEA owning its patterns was an idea Ingvar Kamprad had in the late 1950s, when he made contact with several established textile artists. Git Ahrenstedt, the designer of PASS, was the first of them, and her patterns were represented in the IKEA catalogue between 1958 and 1963.
Trained at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm in 1947–1951, Git Ahrenstedt was asked to submit a few potential rug designs. Ingvar later wrote to her in a letter: “After much time, I am now getting back regarding the various proposals for rug patterns Mrs. Ahrenstedt kindly designed for us. We have produced the Pass idea and one more (I can’t remember the name) with a wide border and a . Pass has been particularly successful and we expect a lot of success with it.”
Those expectations were met. PASS, which was probably manufactured by Salanders Fabriksaktiebolag in Lund, became one of the best-selling rugs at IKEA during its two years in the range. When it was first launched in the IKEA catalogue in 1958, it was described as a “sensational new creation”. One particular benefit was its discreet colour scheme in “grey-black, medium grey and grey-white”. According to the catalogue, it could be placed anywhere, whatever colours dominated the room otherwise. PASS was made of soft Swedish wool floss.
PASS remained in the IKEA catalogue until 1960. Git Ahrenstedt also designed two other wool floss rugs for IKEA: REGATTA in a similar colour scheme, and LUKTÄRT in various shades of green. REGATTA appeared in the catalogue between 1960 and 1963, while LUKTÄRT was only in the 1962 edition.
