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A Design Tribute to IKEA founder, Ingvar Kamprad

Yesterday, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad passed away aged 91. On the IKEA website today, the company pays tribute to the icon as "one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century." Kamprad had a vision "to create a better everyday life for the many people" through making good design affordable. Furthermore, the clean, simple aesthetics of IKEA design means the pieces are easy to blend into any space. As a personal tribute to the work of Kamprad, I took a look at my own home to see just how many items from IKEA I enjoy daily!

Although the cabinets in my kitchen are made by Swedish brand - Marbodal, the IKEA STENSTORP kitchen island and LOHALS rug take centre stage! No doubt many of the smaller utensils were also picked up (without even noticing!) on my way through the blue and yellow super store (and I'm sure there are some of IKEAs meatballs lurking behind the fridge door too! 


The Söderhamn chaise longue seen in the window is a relatively new purchase (you may have noticed just how popular it is among Scandinavian design lovers and all the members in my family!).

My bedroom has surprisingly few pieces of IKEA (shock, horror!)- but this is more than made up for by the Söderhamn armchair (I recently transformed it using a Bemz Malmen Velvet Chestnut cover  - don't forget you can get 15% off right now with the code 15myscandinavianhome!). One of the beauties of IKEA furniture is that it can be hacked to create a more personal look and feel! 

At first glance it's hard to spot anything from the furniture store in my daughter's bedroom. But sure enough, there on the windowsill is a plant, plant pot and picture frame all scooped up on a trip to the Malmö branch (most likely to buy something else entirely!). 



And finally. It is apt that the little corner of my home where I sit each day to write this blog, my books - and lately, participate in live press interviews about the 'Father of flatpack', is almost entirely made up from IKEA pieces including the chair, ALEX drawer unit, desk and shelves!

So, what's next on my list? One of my favourite collections to date is the Stockholm 2017 (launched last April), which was "designed to mix and blend in with what you already have at home', and I've got my eye on this number (as well as a few other items from the range - naturally!)....





From a design perspective I would like to say thank you, Ingvar Kamprad, you set out with a vision "to create a better everyday life for the many people" and help more people access good design and you certainly achieved that. 


I'm so curious to hear what IKEA means to you. 

Do you have a favourite piece? 



Photography credits (in order of appearance): 1 & 2: Agentur Loop. 3. Niki Brantmark. 4 & 5 Niki Brantmark / Genevieve Jorn. 6 Niki Brantmark. 7 - 10 IKEA. 11. Tweeted by @IKEAtoday.
 

LATEST COMMENTS:

  1. So sad he passed!
    I am a total IKEA junkie! Mostly because of the clean scandinavian design and this 'svensk lantkänsla'. I am from Germany but lived in Sweden for almost a decade and IKEA just have embraced the Swedish way of living - nice, funny, 'light and airy',a little introvert and not too prevalent... Items from IKEA are so handy and convenient, very smart, and you can pair it with vintage very well. That is how my home is: mostly IKEA like Billy, Ektorp, Malm, the bed, the kitchen, the floor and so on.. paired with a lot of vintage which I love! Perfect!

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  2. The soderhamn couch is a definite favorite. The first BIG (by size, not price) item we bought for our home when we moved in four years ago. I bought some walnut legs off of etsy to give it a bit more height and style. And just last week we just got a green velvet bemz cover that totally transformed it yet again. xx

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  3. We love our Stockholm Sofa in leather. It is so cool and comfortable. I also love our Kitchen, and the other 60% of our furniture from the Ikea Store.
    I especially like the chance to buy stylish stuff at an affordable price.
    Greeting from Germany

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  4. IKEA IS my *favorite* furniture/home goods store since I was 12. Most of our furniture (the whole sitting room just to say), some bedding and kitchen ware are all IKEA. Eagerly waiting for the reopening of IKEA in my hometown this spring/summer.

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  5. The kitchen cabinets in our new Scandi-modern home are from Ikea as are the cabinets in the laundry room and some of the bathrooms - all dressed up with high-end hardware and countertops/backsplash which really elevates the look! We also used Ikea cabinets to make a floating credenza with a custom thick fir "waterfall" top/sides.

    I am also planning to buy the Vimle 4-seat sectional for the same house and dress it up with a Bemz cover in Zaragoza velvet. A lot of Ikea doesn't appeal by itself and so easy to hack/customize.

    Everyone who sees our new house is wowed by it - nobody realizes that a lot of it is Ikea that's been upgraded with simple additions.

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  6. Everyone has Ikea, I'm sure! We have Ikea cabinets in the kitchen and we ended up using 2 uppers (with glass fronts) as cabinets in our TV room. In our front addition, we have Pax wardrobes. Our bed is Stockholm (solid wood, which doesn't seem to be sold anymore in Canada). I even bought Ikea fabric and an Ikea duvet cover for the bedroom. Over the years, I've had other pieces as well.

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  7. Love Ikea. Just FYI. Nazi past followed ikea founder: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-ikea-founder-ingvar-kamprad-nazi-past-20180129-story.html

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  8. We love Ikea so much that when we first moved to Greece 21 years ago and there was no Ikea there at the time, we used measurements from the catalog, and had a carpenter recreate the Ikea bunk bed for our kids. It is still going strong today. We have always loved the clean lines.

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  9. My favourite IKEA item has to be our Moment sofa. Ever since we bought it on sale (15 years ago or so) it has been living in our garden and serves us as a wonderful place to sit outside. Despite the rain etc that it is exposed to, until now it only has a few small spots of rust here and there. I am thinking of having it treated and powder coated so we can enjoy it for even longer.

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  10. Other than a house full of IKEA, his 10 minute quote is one of my all time favorites:

    You can do so much in ten minutes' time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.

    A healthy challenge when I'm feeling stuck on something. He stood for so much more than pieces of furniture.

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  11. I have been hooked on Ikea since my cousin took me there for the first time in 1988. That was when Ingvar left the company I believe but his vision for the future helped to fuel my passion for interiors. He was a visionary. I have 100's(yes I go there a lot) of Ikea that I mix with vintage and some higher end pieces. Mostly though I don't have a huge budget so I can always count on Ikea for something stylish and functional. I have to say Ikea items always stand the test of time if looked after and I have a billy bookcase that is well, very vintage. I love Ikea. You can see how much @abellahomelove My dream came true when they featured my home in there Ikea Family online mag several years ago!

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