Home Interiors: Why Ikea's Billy bookcase is forever young 

A staple of the Viking-style hangar flat-pack since 1979, 120 million of the bookcases are scattered around the world

Versatility has always been the Billy's strong suit, and here it delivers as a gorgeous headboard in a biomorphic bit of calm, set dressing.

It is estimated, using Ikea's own retail analysis, that every five seconds a Billy bookcase is sold somewhere in the world. A staple of the Viking-style hangar, flat-pack since 1979, 120 million of the bookcases or their remains, are scattered across the planet.

Fondly dubbed over 40 years ago as a winning “Pocketpriser” (pocket-friendly product), product design developer  for Ikea, Bonnie Yu remarks, “We talk about Billy being 40 years old, but Billy isn’t old to us. It’s a dear friend that is forever young. It used to have a CD tower.”