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Extinct furniture

Is there such a thing as furniture that will never come back, despite our nostalgic love of retro? Furniture that we simply couldn’t do without in the past, but has now long been forgotten? What’s a telephone table? How do you use a chamber pot cabinet, and who’s supposed to sit on a sewing pouffe?

Glorious future

Things get wild when a group of children are let loose in the Museum and discover IKEA history. We ask them to tell the history of IKEA from the Ice Age to the day after tomorrow. Did IKEA really start in the 1700s? Does Ingmar, age four, actually have a sofa at home or not, and how many stuffed animals can fit in a room?

IKEA PS 1995 brochure

Browse the catalogue for the very first IKEA PS collection, launched in 1995 in Milan, under the theme of Democratic Design. The collection represented a renewal of the Scandinavian design tradition, and the launch was a huge success.

Life at home 1950s

During the optimistic 1950s, the idea of the modern home is born in Sweden: light, comfortable and flexible, with space for the whole family. The TV makes its entrance at the end of the decade, while the furniture becomes increasingly airy, light and functional.

Life at home 1960s

This is the age of great change in Sweden. In the 1960s, most people have a better life, well-being and prosperity are on the up, and more and more people are becoming interested in the home and interior design. Increasing home-building in city suburbs, close to nature, means that a lot of people have a bigger home and a real boost in standard.

Life at home 1970s

In the progressive 1970s, the IKEA range becomes increasingly youthful. Colourful fabrics, bold shapes and practical solutions for a life on the move are hallmarks of the decade’s first years.

Life at home 1980s

For many, the 1980s is an optimistic, frivolous decade, with booming stock markets and broad shoulder pads signalling confidence. The colourful, kitschy postmodern style thrives side by side with elegant furniture in fancy materials. Outward appearance is everything, and it’s important to see and be seen.

Life at home 1990s

The 1990s begin with a severe recession, and the focus is once again on basic everyday needs. In home furnishing, the quite bombastic extravagance of the 1980s is replaced by a minimalist, functional ideal. The function and feel of the home are now more important (and less expensive) than the quest for status.

Life at home 2000s

In the new millennium’s first decade, the modern information society emerges. Mobile phones and video games change life at home for many people.

Life at home 2010s

During the 2010s, the traditional boundaries between the rooms in a home continue to change and disappear. People increasingly realise that there are many different ways to live and work, and that this often affects life at home.

Retail revival in Japan

By the turn of the millennium, it had been almost 20 years since IKEA made its first failed attempt to set up business in Japan. The embarrassing retreat of 1986 was still fresh in the collective IKEA memory, so the return was handled with great care and humility.

STOCKHOLM 1985 brochure

Browse the brochure for the very first IKEA STOCKHOLM collection from 1985, named “New classics”. In it, the furniture is photographed in a beautiful, manor house-like setting, in line with the ambition to offer new modern and affordable classics.

STOCKHOLM 1990 brochure

Five years after the first IKEA STOCKHOLM collection, a broader, updated collection came along: “More beautiful everyday”, which also included a coordinated textile and wallpaper collection, as well as glasses, crockery and cutlery. A further two designers, Ehlén Johansson and Agneta Svensk, now worked on the collection, which was still characterised by the classic Scandinavian theme with cautious continental influences.

STOCKHOLM 1996 brochure

Browse the folder for the IKEA STOCKHOLM collection 1996, “Lasting beauty”. More designers had now become involved, and took inspiration from Scandinavian ideals, neat shapes and light Nordic wood. All parts of the products in the collection were of high quality in design, materials and attention to detail.

STOCKHOLM 2006 brochure

Super materials, but far from super expensive. Browse the brochure for the IKEA STOCKHOLM collection 2006, with innovative design in super quality. This collection was distinguished by an innovative profile rather than its adherence to traditions. Textile and glass with strong accent colours in pink, purple, red and green contrasted with furniture in dark oak. In the meeting between leather, cowhide, velvet and mohair was a bolder attitude than in previous collections.

STOCKHOLM 2008 brochure

Browse the brochure for the IKEA STOCKHOLM collection 2008 that was primarily an update of the collection from 2006. The textiles were given new colour constellations and were complemented by rugs in graphic patterns, and richly patterned fabrics sold by the metre, as well as boldly colourful glassware.

STOCKHOLM 2013 brochure

Browse the brochure for the IKEA STOCKHOLM collection 2013, named “With an eye for detail”. This was a broader collection than previous ones, with several strong individual parts that were easy to combine with the furniture and objects already in a home. The collection was made with particular sensitivity and attention to fine detail, and only the finest materials were used, from the inside out.

STOCKHOLM 2017 brochure

Browse the brochure for the IKEA STOCKHOLM collection 2017, “The beauty of doing things at just the right pace”. This collection contained as many as 47 parts, made to mix and match with the customer’s existing home interiors. Natural, tactile materials like rattan and hand-blown glass reflected the collection’s most important sources of inspiration: the light and nature of Sweden.