Reason why IKEA offers its furnishings distinctive Swedish names – it isn’t what you suppose
IKEA is one of the largest furniture stores in the world and is well-known for its unique product names – but many often wonder where they come from and they weren’t just chosen at random
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting an IKEA store, you may have wondered what the Swedish names are all about.
From LOMMARP to LOMVIKEN, BOASTAD to FARTYG, you’d be forgiven for thinking someone in HQ is having a laugh.
But the truth behind the names is a lot more humbling and is what’s made its founder Igvar Kamprad so legendary.
Kamprad’s original furniture business began as a mail-order sales business.
Most of his products were identifiable by a set of numbers, but Kamprad had trouble remembering the codes for each product, which turned out to be the sign of his dyslexia.
So, instead of delegating those responsibilities to another person and avoiding the issue, he used his disability to his advantage by coming up with a more creative system for organising his products.
This turned out to be the most iconic aspect of his now-worldwide business as Kamprad created a naming system where he gave names to each piece of furniture.
For example, large furniture is given names of Swedish places, chairs and desks have men’s names, and garden furniture is named after Swedish islands.
This system was easier for Kamprad to remember and visualise each product, since most of the names were of places familiar to him.
In fact, the name IKEA was formed by Kamprad using his ‘IK’ initials, then adding an ‘E’ and ‘A’ on for Elmtaryd, the farm he grew up on and Agunnaryd, the village it was near.
Today, IKEA is one of the largest furniture stores in the world and is well-known for its unique product names.
Many have even made it their mission to try and understand the true meaning behind pretty much all of the IKEA names and have identified where so many of them get their name on a website.
Its creators say it’s not affiliated with IKEA in any way and is a working progress still “incomplete and very much under construction.”
Kamprad passed away in 2018 but is remembered as being not aloft but very much down to earth, and as a leader who impacted the people around him in an inspirational and positive way.
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