WEBVTT
1
00:00:08.920 --> 00:00:12.920
No ice sheet, no IKEA.
2
00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:22.120
To understand the home region
of Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA,
3
00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:25.400
you have to go way back in time.
4
00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.160
As a result of the continental glacier,
the soil in Småland is full of stones.
5
00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:39.640
Every year the farmers had to struggle
to make the land workable.
6
00:00:39.800 --> 00:00:44.320
And no matter how many stones
had been removed the previous year,
7
00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:49.000
the frozen ground of winter
brought new ones to the surface.
8
00:00:51.160 --> 00:00:55.920
This hardship gave birth
to a sense of entrepreneurship.
9
00:00:56.080 --> 00:00:58.760
A lot had to be made from a little.
10
00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:04.520
The forest around the houses was used
to make carts, buildings and furniture.
11
00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:11.720
Iron ore was extracted from the lakes
and sold to ironworks
12
00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:17.880
where skilled smiths and artisans
refined the raw material into products.
13
00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.120
The land reform of the early 19th century
14
00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:30.240
gathered each farm's scattered strips of land
into proper fields.
15
00:01:32.360 --> 00:01:37.600
And in true Småland style,
the farmers made the best of what they had.
16
00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:43.200
The stones in the field were now used
to build walls dividing properties.
17
00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:46.400
A problem turned into a solution.
18
00:01:49.160 --> 00:01:51.520
No farm without a cow.
19
00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:56.480
Nowhere else in Sweden
was animal husbandry as much in focus.
20
00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.520
And no part of the cow went to waste.
21
00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.400
The more milk, the more butter could be sold.
22
00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:13.760
The more fertiliser there was,
the better the harvest.
23
00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:17.920
Everything could be used, sold, or traded.
24
00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:21.480
And the living cow pulled the cart.
25
00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:32.480
In the mid-1800s,
a mass emigration to the USA begins.
26
00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:37.240
More than a million Swedes
eventually leave the country.
27
00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.320
One-fifth of them are from Småland,
28
00:02:40.480 --> 00:02:45.280
where crop failure and poverty
made life unbearable for many.
29
00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:52.680
Some also move into the cities,
and industrialisation
30
00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:56.120
changes Sweden from the ground up.
31
00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:04.360
One family that remain in Småland
are the Keys
32
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:07.920
on Sundsholm farm outside Västervik.
33
00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:14.120
The daughter, Ellen, is strongly influenced
by her Småland home environment.
34
00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:19.160
In her later life, by then an author
and feminist ideologue,
35
00:03:19.320 --> 00:03:24.280
she presents her thoughts on beauty
and simplicity to the Swedish people.
36
00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:30.600
In her book Beauty for All ,
she praises functionalism,
37
00:03:30.760 --> 00:03:34.440
simple shapes and natural materials.
38
00:03:34.600 --> 00:03:38.200
This is the birth of Scandinavian design.
39
00:03:41.160 --> 00:03:45.040
Ellen Key took a lot of the inspiration
for these thoughts
40
00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:48.720
from the couple Karin and Carl Larsson.
41
00:03:49.480 --> 00:03:54.320
Karin furnished their large home in Dalarna
and worked with textiles,
42
00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.800
while Carl painted the home
and their family life.
43
00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:05.000
His paintings became very popular
and depicted a new kind of home.
44
00:04:05.160 --> 00:04:07.920
Light, airy, functional.
45
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:13.000
A home that allowed space for children.
A home to live in.
46
00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:23.640
The dark years of the First World War
pass with hunger and poverty.
47
00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:31.200
But in 1928 the Social Democratic
prime minister, Per Albin Hansson,
48
00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.880
introduces a term that will shape
the 20th century in Sweden,
49
00:04:36.080 --> 00:04:39.440
and also the image of Sweden abroad.
50
00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:48.680
That term is 'folkhemmet', the welfare state.
51
00:04:48.840 --> 00:04:55.120
And the vision is to build a society
characterised by consensus and equality.
52
00:04:56.120 --> 00:05:00.600
Women now have the right to vote
and are joining the workforce.
53
00:05:01.320 --> 00:05:04.720
A series of social reforms are introduced,
54
00:05:04.880 --> 00:05:09.720
living standards are modernised
and small, functional homes
55
00:05:09.880 --> 00:05:13.360
are built in Sweden's towns and cities.
56
00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:22.680
Every farm and village in Småland produces
something they can sell and make money from.
57
00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:29.400
Local rural shops serve as wholesalers
and resell their goods.
58
00:05:31.280 --> 00:05:34.360
Agriculture and industry become mechanised,
59
00:05:34.520 --> 00:05:38.280
and a furniture kingdom begins to take shape.
60
00:05:42.880 --> 00:05:48.120
I have to tell you now,
this country is at war with Germany.
61
00:05:49.320 --> 00:05:53.480
In 1939, the next world war breaks out.
62
00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:58.880
Sweden remains neutral,
but is of course affected anyway.
63
00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:05.400
Many Swedish men are put on combat alert,
64
00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:09.120
and women play a larger role
in the labour market.
65
00:06:11.960 --> 00:06:19.040
At this point, a young man from Elmtaryd
in Småland puts his plans into action.
66
00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:26.240
The Småland ideology
of entrepreneurialism, innovation,
67
00:06:26.400 --> 00:06:31.240
thrift and hard work
will characterise everything he does.
68
00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:41.280
Stone after stone, obstacle after obstacle,
is confronted and removed.
69
00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.720
He is the third of three elements
required for the birth of IKEA:
70
00:06:50.960 --> 00:06:56.360
Småland, Sweden and Ingvar Kamprad.