Who could have predicted that the Swedish giant's furniture would one day constitute a segment of the collection market?
IKEA furniture performs exceptionally well at auction today and often exceeds its original price. Barnebys co-founder Pontus Silfverstolpe says that “more and more buyers are interested in IKEA designs dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. When a new generation becomes financially stable and starts to buy at auction, they begin by taking an interest in what is familiar to them, what they knew during their childhood."
IKEA furniture from the Åke series, inspired by the Clam Chair by Arnold Madsen (long attributed to designer Philip Arctander), is among the brand’s best-selling and fetches record prices in sales. The Åke collection was produced between 1952 and 1956 and has risen to the rank of IKEA ‘classic’.
Read also: IKEA's Most Expensive Designs
In recent years, the Åke armchair has marked the collecting world and surprised buyers as its average value has increased by €1,172 (£1,050). A pair sold for €2,916 euros (£2,610) at Bukowskis last year, confirming the model's status as a true icon of the brand.
The same goes for the Impala armchair, designed by Swedish designer Gillis Lundgren in 1972 and today one of the most sought-after IKEA classics: in 2019, a model was sold for €2,232 (£2,000) at Bukowskis. The Tema library, launched during the 1950s and 1960s, took off last May for €2,140 (£1,916) at Stockholm Auktionsverk.
Read also: Ikea's Sources of Inspiration
Even some of the firm’s commercial failures have become successful models, like the Vilbert chair, designed by Danish designer Verner Panton in the mid-1990s (one of the firm's most famous collaborations). At the time, the Vilbert chair was met with little success among the public. Today, it sells on average between €600-800 (£537-716) per chair and is one of the most popular references for collectors.
On Barnebys, searches certainly aren’t running out of steam, and in fact number more than 5.1 million per year (all platforms combined). From 2018 to 2019, searches for IKEA items increased by 6.36%, while in 2020, the term was already searched 3,610,000 times, which represents 65% of last year's searches and is expected to set a new record by December.
See also: The 10 Most Popular Furniture Designers
IKEA is among the 100 most searched terms on Barnebys, led by the Prim armchair, Lars Norrman's lithographs, and the Bergslagen folding table.
Simply designed by some of the most influential figures of the 20th century, IKEA pieces are now elevated to the rank of design classics. The ranges, although produced in series, have had a limited lifespan and when a piece survives four or five decades after its creation, its rarity and value skyrocket.
Vintage having resurfaced a few years ago, it is customary to mix contemporary pieces with classics with retro charm, and what better way to do that than with the classics of the Swedish brand?
