Grey and white actually...
He's a sweet little beastie, indeed. Our other one is B&W long haired and is a piece of work...has no idea he's a cat. Not sure what he thinks he is but cat sure ain't it. Possibly he thinks he's supreme ruler of the universe... it's possible he is!
I've been in IKEA stores in 5 countries. US, UK, Canada, Sweden and Holland. They are somewhat different in what they carry. Not significantly but there are cultural differences. To give a small example, IKEA in the UK and Canada offers a 'tea cozy' to keep the teapot warm. Never seen those in a US store.
SPANKY: I too find it strange that Ikea received an award for the Poang design, as there's very little difference between it and Aaalto Alvar original designs. I have a Poang (red wood frame), and I've kept it, because I also find it the most comfortable chair I've sat in. I thought about replacing it with perhaps something less common, and more ambitious, design-wise. But for everything I considered, it would have been a compromise on comfort, and I felt I should have at least one comfortable chair! There's another Poang-like chair Ikea used to make; same frame but with web-weave seating, that "borrows" even more from Alvar's design. I recently gave my Poang a facelift, covering it with Ikea's Karna fabric, in orange; just for something different.
LUCIFERSUM: I too have the Fira boxes you pictured, but mine are the model with the black and white drawers. And I remember I nearly got the Enetri shelves, but opted for something from F.L.Y. that matched my a/v unit.
AZURECHICKEN: My dressers would probably be considered "vintage" by some, (judging from what I've seen called "vintage Ikea" on ebay). They're a few years old, but they don't make the model anymore. I made them more tolerable by painting the drawers white. I too am keenly interested in seeing what sort of designs Ikea produced 25 years ago, but I think that would be extremely hard to find. Your best bet is to search "vintage Ikea" on Google Images. There's stuff from the 90's and such, and some of it is God-awful, and some of it is amazing and timeless. IKEA does sometimes alter their designs for the market. For example, they found that they were selling an inordinate quantity of a certain type of vase, in their U.S. market. Then when studying this, found Americans were using them as drinking glasses, because their glasses were too small! So they made larger glasses for this market. I noticed yesterday doing a search for their Knappa pendant lamp, that there was a round model on their British website not available in the U.S. or Canada. I'd say in general, they sell the same products worldwide, but their avaiability will differ from market to market, store to store.
Poang research!
I found it---and I was wrong, it didn't win an award, it just was so popular that it was made for a long time. This is from the book "Scandinavian Design" by Charlotte & Peter Fiell. I remember being surprised to see it in this book and I guess over time that translated in my memory to having won an award! Sorry about that.
Here's some early stuff, including the first cover of the IKEA catalog. (They sold general merchandise at first, I guess like Sears, then switched to inexpensive furniture and housewares for the masses soon after.)
Thanks to SPANKY for the snip...
Thanks to SPANKY for the snippets of truly! vintage IKEA stuff. I'd been yearning to find glimpses of vintage Ikea designs for years now. For those also curious about antique Ikea designs, I found and am including a link for the entire IKEA catalogue (for Germany) for 1974, in PDF format. Curiously, they feature a moose (elk) as the then company mascot, in the catalogue. Thank god they quiched that idea.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/de_DE/about_ikea/press_room/downloads/katalog-197...
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