{"id":61202,"date":"2026-10-29T10:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/?p=61202"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:04","slug":"ingvar-kamprad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/ingvar-kamprad\/","title":{"rendered":"Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA Founder Who Built the Flat-Pack Furniture Model"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ingvar Kamprad was the Swedish entrepreneur who founded IKEA<\/a> in 1943 and built it from a small mail-order business into the home furnishing brand now sold through hundreds of stores around the world. He has since died, and the company is now run by professional managers under a franchise structure he set up.<\/p>\n

His ideas still frame how IKEA describes itself: low prices, flat packs that customers carry home, self-service warehouses and a written set of company values from 1976 that staff are still asked to read.<\/p>\n

Career<\/h3>\n

Kamprad registered IKEA in 1943. According to the company’s own history, the business first sold small household goods such as pens, wallets and picture frames. The name joins his initials with the first letters of two place names from the part of southern Sweden where he started.<\/p>\n

In 1948 IKEA added furniture to its range, among the first pieces a dark brown dining table called RIGA. Because the company was based far from Sweden’s big cities, Kamprad turned to a printed catalogue to reach buyers, and the first annual home furnishing catalogue appeared in the early 1950s.<\/p>\n

Low prices made some customers doubt the quality, so in 1953 he opened a permanent showroom in \u00c4lmhult where people could see and try the furniture before ordering. The IKEA Global history gives the opening date as 30 March 1953.<\/p>\n

During the 1950s the company began packing furniture flat to cut transport costs and damage. IKEA credits the idea to the removal of the legs from the L\u00d6VET side table, and links it to Kamprad and the designer Gillis Lundgren.<\/p>\n

On 28 October 1958 the first full IKEA store opened in \u00c4lmhult. It covered 6,500 square metres, including a 4,000 square metre showroom. A restaurant followed in 1960, first serving only coffee and cold dishes.<\/p>\n

In 1965 IKEA opened Kungens Kurva near Stockholm, then the largest furniture store in Northern Europe. After a fire at that store in 1970, staff set up a self-service area, and when it reopened in 1971 most products could be picked up and assembled by customers themselves.<\/p>\n

Expansion beyond the Nordic countries began in 1973 with a store in Spreitenbach, Switzerland, followed by stores in Germany. In 1976 Kamprad set down the company’s culture and values in nine points in a short document addressed to staff, built around the aim of a better everyday life for many people.<\/p>\n

By the early 1980s IKEA had stores in 20 countries. To protect the concept and keep long-term independent ownership, Kamprad created a franchise system and ruled out a stock market listing. In 1982 he also founded the IKEA Foundation, which today works on poverty and climate change.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reported in 2013 that Kamprad stepped away from running IKEA Group in 1986. He stayed involved as a senior adviser. In June 2013 he left the board of Inter IKEA Group, which owns the IKEA brand, describing the move as part of a generation shift that had been under way for several years.<\/p>\n

After his death, IKEA called him “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century”.<\/p>\n

Roles<\/h3>\n