Apartment Therapy New York | Quick History: IKEA Retrospect

Apartment Therapy New York | Quick History: IKEA Retrospect

Oh, IKEA. For some, the name itself conjures up images of off-kilter bookshelves and teetering tables. For others, the modern-on-a-budget wares are necessary to adequately furnish a home. But though IKEA has become an international brand and a consummate capitalist success story, its roots in Scandinavian progressivism — both aesthetic and social — remind us that there’s more to the company than meets the eye...

Sweden wasn’t always the posterchild for progressivism. In the early twentieth century, Stockholm, alongside Helsinki, had the lowest standard-of-living in Europe, with cramped, dark apartments where people slept four to a bed. Birth rates were low, alcoholism was high. After 1932, when the Social Democrats were elected to power, the government began subsidizing new, healthier housing (big windows for light and air circulation, balconies), and actively promoted contemporary, affordable furniture suited to a relaxed family home — urging newlyweds to avoid the fashion of paying a lot for traditional-looking furniture that was too formal to be used by young families...