Before IKEA ….

Posted on Wed, 20 Aug 2008 by midcenturyjo


I was going to write an intro for this retro post with bad jokes about LPs and 8 tracks (go ask your mums) but then I realised that what was staring at me from the screen of my computer was an IKEA catalogue. Does anyone else see the similarities? Today’s retro scans are from Home Storage, House and Garden Guide to Organization and Arrangement, Leonie Highton, Conde Nast, 1975.

daphnie says:

Amazing!
Hmmm… was the magazine innovative or is IKEA’s ideas obsolete??

So true! Im sure Ive even seen a green apple fabric swatch at my local Ikea!

Anonymous says:

Hi.

IKEA was founded in 1943… here in Sweden. Also, just thought I’d mention that the IKEA catalog was first published in 1951 with pictures and designs very similar to the images you show here. “Swedish modern” style emerged at the same time as modernism in the 1930s, although it was interrupted by the Depression and World War II, but emerged again and reached its height in the 1950s.

Sorry for the history lesson….

All the things are very eye catching like Sofas,Lounge Chair,Arrangement & all

love that orange

That is so bizarre!!!! But remember design reinvents itself…well in this case it’s almost a virtual copy !!

eirracoes says:

It’s IKEA back in its college days, with a ‘fro and everything.

Brendan says:

Actually, I don’t see much Ikea similarity there at all. What I do see is quite a few modern design classics (Mies, Le Corbusier, Eames, etc) in materials far more luxurious that Ikea would sell.

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