Ikea, omnipresent Swedish purveyor of flatpack furniture, has announced that, come next month, it'll once again produce the three-legged table that started the build-it-yourself furniture revolution. The year: 1956. The man: designer Gillis Lundgren. After a successful trip to the furniture store, wherein Lundgren picked up a three-legged, leaf-like LÖVET side table, he realized—curses!—the piece of furniture did not actually fit inside his car. So he sawed off the legs, put the pieces inside, and, once at home, reassembled it all. Et voilà! An industry—now responsible for refugee housing, London suburbs, boutique hotels, and more—was founded. And now, that LÖVET side table has been reborn as LÖVBACKEN. Why? Because, well, market research told the ever-industrious Ikea people that it would sell, why else? More below.
"We know from our research that people are becoming more and more interested in buying pieces of furniture that have a story attached to them," Emily Birkin, the Ikea UK country sales manager, told the Telegraph. "So we decided to bring back a popular piece that not only comes steeped in history but combines retro styling with modern convenience." Fun fact: the table is also the centerpiece of the Ikea museum in Almhult, Sweden. Fun fact: there's an Ikea museum.
· Ikea relaunches table that started the flatpack revolution [Telegraph]
· All Ikea posts [Curbed National]