Kamprad Born: IKEA Founder Changes How the World Furnishes

Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1943 when he was 17 years old, selling pens, watches, and Christmas decorations by mail from the family farm in Älmhult, Sweden. Born on March 30, 1926, in Pjätteryd, a small farming village in Småland, he showed an early talent for commerce, buying matches in bulk from Stockholm and reselling them at a profit to neighbors as a child. The name IKEA was an acronym from his initials and the first letters of the farm and parish where he grew up: Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd. He added furniture to the catalog in 1948, designing pieces that could be manufactured cheaply using local suppliers. The flat-pack concept, which became the company's defining innovation, emerged in 1956 when an employee removed the legs from a table to fit it into a car. The insight was transformative: by shipping furniture disassembled in flat boxes and letting customers assemble it at home, IKEA dramatically reduced shipping costs, warehouse space, and retail prices. The business model turned a regional mail-order operation into a global phenomenon. By the time of Kamprad's death, IKEA operated 433 stores in 50 countries and sold an estimated 700 million products per year. The stores themselves became destinations, with their maze-like showroom layouts, in-store restaurants serving Swedish meatballs, and childcare facilities. Kamprad's personal frugality was legendary and deliberate. He drove a 15-year-old Volvo, flew economy class, stayed in budget hotels, and ate at the IKEA restaurant. He also carried a significant personal burden: as a teenager, he had been a member of a Swedish fascist organization with ties to Nazism. He later called it the greatest mistake of his life. He died on January 27, 2018, at age 91. His family remains among the wealthiest on earth.