IKEA

In 1943, a 17 year old boy named Ingvar Kamprad founded a company he called IKEA, for Ingvar Kamprad (born at the) Elmtaryd (farm, living in) Agunnaryd. It was a mail order business and furniture was added only in 1948. In 1953, Kamprad opened a showroom in Älmhult, now the municipality where his birthplace stands. Kamprad was not an easy person to deal with. In 1956, his suppliers decided on a boycott against him. He reacted by having IKEA design furniture itself and sell it half assembled in flat cartons. The formula was a success. The first IKEA shop was opened in 1958.

IKEA came to the Netherlands in 1978, opening a large furniture supermarket in Sliedrecht, near Rotterdam, followed in quick succession by shops in Amsterdam, Duiven, Delft (1992) and Eindhoven, followed by a number of other shops. Sliedrecht is now closed and Delft is the main seat in the Netherlands, also the headquarters of INGKA, a charitable foundation that makes IKEA more tax-efficient and serves as a defence mechanism against take-overs.

IKEA
	Filename	DIK1
	Side 1	IKEA
	Side 2	IKEA
	Manufacture	Brass
	Size (mm)	20
	Weight (grams)	3.57
	Notes	Used in Delft only
	Source	Figleaf