Vintage View: Why design addicts have already turned hungry eyes to IKEA

Kya deLongchamps finds some highly collectable furnishings from our favourite Scandi style-setter

Sputnik Coat Rack by Osvaldo Borsani. Picture: Upstaged Vintage (Etsy) – 

In terms of high design, Ikea has been crammed into self-assembly, blonde wood pigeon-hole. Offering affordable, unpretentious home products, Ingvar Kamprad’s brainchild, conceived in 1942, is often dismissed by aesthetic aristocrats as staging only cheaply made particle-board pop-furnishings.

However, Ikea has always had a premium division together with a close nurturing relationship with bold, innovative designers across Europe. The Ikea Museum in Älmhult, Sweden, has just launched the new Ikea Digital Museum, an online platform offering 100 editorial articles, short films and interviews with the people involved in Ikea’s journey. It’s a perfect way to get friendly with their most celebrated creatives and iconic releases. ikeamuseum.com

Ikea guide helf by Niels Gammelgaard from 1985. From Ä800 depending on condition.

Design addicts have already turned hungry eyes on the catwalk winners of the Viking style-hangar. I spotted a cool 50s Gillils Lundgren Tema storage unit at Kirk Modern, arguably our top vintage furniture house here in Ireland, kirkmodern.com. Some of Ikea’s most celebrated pieces right through to the 1990s have politely materialised in small but significant numbers in galleries, antique fairs and at top-flight auction floors across the world. Their sales description is sometimes shorn of the dreaded four-letter acronym.

With a price point from the low hundreds on Etsy to the high thousands on 1stDibs and Panomo, Barnabys and The SalesRoom, there’s plenty for everyone to have the wonderful from yesterday, every day. If you’re interested in including vintage Ikea and paying more than its original €5.99c pricing concentrate on the quality of materials and trace the designer if possible (sometimes hard to establish, even with Ikea).

Tord Bjorklund's Skye from the 90s is an angular uptick of leather with an integrated pillow. Price dependent on condition and supplier.

Look for honest fabrics in wool and cotton, leather, chrome, steel, lacquered wood and a good level of solid, stable construction. Quirky Euro-trash styling is a great lead-in — the piece should speak its time, with youthful, Earth-friendly Scandinavian frolic as standard.

A modern design classic as relevant today as it was on its release in 1985, the Guide Shelf by Niels Gammelgaard is airy, architectural and combines the Ikea recipe of banal and better ingredients, in this case - steel, particleboard, fibreboard, ABS plastic, acrylic paint and even paper. Two floor-standing ladder supports, with plank shelves slipped into four positions; it has a timeless, gentled industrial chic that would suit a mid-century inclined pad. Prices from €800 in perfect condition (watch for any splits to the shelving). Gammelgaard worked extensively in the 1980s, and his Lip Chair is the perfect ruby-stained pout for kissing up to a kitsch space. Prices from €300 – try Etsy for this and his wire Jarpen lounge chairs.

Candleholder by Ehlen Johansson 1987. Check Etsy for Ikea collectable smalls.

A luxury catcher’s mitt of a lounger with a clear Le Corbusier profile, Tord Bjorklund’s Skye is an angular uptick of leather with an integrated pillow. On a rather unremarkable tubular steel frame, it’s at the high end of the Ikea collecting spectrum and with good reason. Produced from 1980s to 1989 it has a stunning profile set by a window, and comes in a range of colours in soft, yielding cow-hide. Bjorklund’s general pieces rarely appear for under four figures, so his Ikea output in what the Americans call “Memphis style” are worth the hunt. Prices from €600 from online sellers, but shop around as good examples with lightly battered cushions are gaining ground, growing rare and rising in price.

18th-century style blue and white porcelain in the Nejlika collection. Boxed sets from Ä250, single cups and saucers from Ä30.

If your budget allows, Gillils Lundgren’s Impala collection in whip-crack chrome curves and fat velvet seating from the 70s can occasionally be found at auction. These chairs are the first suite cited by collectors and they look all the money, recalling the rockstar, penthouse vibe of Hans Hopfner’s Mah Jong pillow-chairs for Roche Bobois (without its terrifying cost). The look is a bit of a commitment to late 1970s decadence — but not to be missed at any general 20th-century design auction. From €500-€2000 an armchair in fair condition, depending on the source.

A more recent highly-desirable Swede (much of the hysteria around Ikea vintage centres on seating) Carl Ojerstam’s Storvik, a puddle of rattan weave, was offered from 2001 to 2005. It has already achieved cult status as it was delivered in limited numbers and punctures easily. Its biomorphic shape recalling the sculpture of Henry Moore is right on trend for 2022, so expect a feverish keyboard safari to find one. €1,000 – €1,500 in perfect order from multiple online vintage suppliers.

Think of a postmodern doodle in steel in a male and female form and we have one of the most joyous, ridiculous bits of (oddly useful) 1980s Ikea bargains. Performing as clothes valets, Ehlén-Johansson sculptural figures in white or black steel are panty wearing dandies that perfectly reflect the outrageous strut and fashion-forward confidence of 1988 when they were sold by the thousand. Perfect for their original intent as portmanteau, used as a towel rack, or as coat stands in a comic hall, snap up these two if you find them strutting their half-naked stuff on Etsy. From €200 each. You might be lucky enough to find both mannequins for €300 as a bundle. Johansson had a fertile wire output in table pieces including arty Tradig candle-holders and fruit bowls with a cherry red finish. The fruit bowl is often up-cycled as a pendant. Dating from the 1990s, identified pieces can make upwards of €75, but keep your eyes open in charity shops and mixed boxes at auction.

Ikea has reached back and forth through history for inspiration and touched on the Gustavian look-book for 18th-century elegance. Vintage and antique blue and white ceramics have always been popular with collectors, and Ikea’s Nejlika wares combined the everyday charm of Dutch delft with the loveliness of Oriental Export wares in a range of dainty, painted porcelain. Look out for dinnerware and boxed tea-sets from the 1990s, hand-crafted in China for Ikea. Prices from €30 for a cup and saucer with surviving fabric boxed-sets from €250.

Buying new, I’m drawn to the nostalgic cobalt blue and white patterns and reliefs of Entusiasm, from €9 for 4 bowls. When selling your pieces, ensure you’re not giving them away. From 1992 forward the 1992 PS series (short for Post Scriptum) identifies the items as limited editions made in relatively small numbers.

In smalls, my money is on the eye-catching Sputnik Coat Rack by Osvaldo Borsani. Bravely atomic, illustrative, its sea creature form can take three-four coats. Available in black, white or multicolour. It’s often described as being 1970s but appears to be a 90s piece. Whatever the case, it’s retro enough for 50s fans and offered anywhere from €50-€250 depending on the supplier.