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IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

ikeamuseum.com

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Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#121

Post by 112233 »

unwind wrote: post #79
silvestrov wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also: why can't they show all sizes of a product jusst like when choosing t-shirt size on a normal shop? e.g. this dresser is available in many sizes but you wouldn't know from the product page: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/storklinta-3-drawer-chest-white... At best you can then search for "STORKLINTA" but the result list has the other sizes mixed with all sorts of other products such as beds: https://www.ikea.com/us…

It's not super hard to back up (using the "bread crumbs" on the page you linked), to "Dressers & chests of drawers", pop down the "Series" input selector, and pick STORKLINTA. That gets you [1] which I hope shows all the dressers of that name. [1]: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/chests-of-drawers-10451/?filt...

Here is a page for Eket collection: https://www.ikea.lv/lv/collections/eket

Please look at it quickly and try understanding what elements are available.

Or, say, Platsa having half of the pieces called Småstad, because they kinda would also fit in kid's room. Or trying to find codenames for doors/facades/drawers of Metod or Pax.

Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#123

Post by criddell »

pessimizer wrote: post #69

The thing that has always driven me crazy about these catalogs is that I have an Ikea product that for the life of me I've never been able to find any reference to. So much so that I wouldn't even trust my memory if I didn't have an unopened set from 2002. It's called the GRILLBY, is a design by Gillis Lundgren, and it's a wire mesh wall mount kit for TRYGGVE shelves with hooks screwed into them. I thought they looke…

Do you think the system might have been called Algot?

Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#124

Post by giobox »

bluebarbet wrote: post #100
petepete wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they are genuinely worse in terms of construction A 406 costs ×20 more (£1600 vs £80). Does the 406 have cleaner lines? Yes. Is it comfier? The 406 doesn't have a cushioned seat so, maybe or maybe not. Will it last longer? Probably. But the IKEA one comes with a 10 year warranty and unless you treat it badly it'll probably last far longer than that. Hard to argue that the IKEA POÄNG isn't great value for the people…

Well said. My Poäng has been abused (by students) for years. It's still almost as good as new. And so very, very comfortable.

Ironically it's the prevalence of this chair in student residences that makes me never want to see one again. It's practically standard issue student furniture in many parts of Europe, I promised myself once I had a job that paid a reasonable salary I would never have one again, having sat in hundreds of the things during my education.

When I look back through photos of my student years, Poängs are in so, so many of the pictures. The chair itself is arguably relatively unoffensive; I just find its prevalence deeply boring.

Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#125

Post by ohples »

Reason077 wrote: post #60
112233 wrote: post #55

A bit OT, but why is ikea internet store (any country) designed to be so unusable? Lists of available components hidden in pdfs tucked in obscure menu, no way to find compatible components, search flooded with tens of thousands of "combinations" — I mean, they obviously know what they are doing. What is the goal of making it such way?

IKEA likes to find ways to get you into their physical stores because they know you’re going to end up buying more than just the items you came for. So they have a website that sort of teases you, but isn’t actually good enough to replace the physical stores. You’ll start on the website, but get frustrated with it and eventually just drive over to IKEA to find the items you want. And you’ll also come home with some c…

> IKEA likes to find ways to get you into their physical stores because they know you’re going to end up buying more than just the items you came for.

If only they actually had a decent density of stores in the US. I live north of a major metro area (Boston) and I have to drive over 1.5 hours to an IKEA. I used to live in Raleigh, NC and the closest one was over 3.5 hours away.

Although maybe this is part of the strategy, getting you to travel a long distance to there stores in order to keep you there.

Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#126

Post by epiccoleman »

pkaye wrote: post #77
rixrax wrote: post #16

This is awesome! I wish Omega, Zenith, Seiko and other watch manufacturers would do the same and publish their historic catalogs online! And auto manufacturers, and really everyone who is in the kind of business where catalogs like this exists.

I came upon the Harrods 1912 catalog. Its interesting browse the catalog for what was available back then. https://archive.org/details/harrods-for-everything-images/mo...

This led me down a pleasing rabbit hole:

* flipping through the pages I stopped with some interest on section for the "Optical Department" (page 84)

* I noticed the pince-nez glasses, and wondered "does pince-nez just mean 'pinch nose'?

* looked up pince-nez on Wikipedia[1], sure enough, pince-nez means "pinch nose".

* there is an interesting section in this article about early glasses [2]

* A citation in this section leads to "Renaissance vision from spectacles to telescopes," (p. 167) helpfully archived on the Internet Archive [3]

* paging through this book leads to a "fairly complete description of horn frame making in a Florentine carnival song of the early sixteenth century." [4] (p.171)

And finally, this "Florentine carnival song" has the following verse:

> Because they are made by

> necromantic artifice and the planets > of Mercury, Jupiter and Mars,

> herbal juices and very secret,

> they make men wise

> when they use these spectacles.

I had no idea of the necromantic powers I was invoking by wearing glasses!

Thanks for the fun diversion!

---

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pince-nez

[2]: > The earliest form of eyewear for which any archaeological record exists comes from the middle of the 15th century. It is a primitive pince-nez...

[3]: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_peIL7hVQUmwC/page/n167/mo...

[4]: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_peIL7hVQUmwC/page/n171/mo...

Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#127

Post by makeitdouble »

112233 wrote: post #113
makeitdouble wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm probably part of that problem. While I don't shop that much at Ikea, I still remember their product lines, will sift through the dozens of combinations and PDFs, and take notes while looking at the building instructions to see what could be done with a product. Most of us will choose Ikea for the flexibility, and will happily do some amount of research anyway. Until reading your comment it didn't hit me that the…

But how does it make sense in the case you describe to hide those pdfs on the site so deep you cannot find them except when told where to click (or by major accident)?

I'm kinda lost, in another comment you mention the Eket system, so if it's those components you're looking for there's a full page for them liked right at the top of the Eket page:

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/eket-inserts-accessories-5928...

If we're talking about the "Product details" -> "Assembly and documents" part, that's 3 clicks away and looks pretty straightforward to me. You make it sound like it's 15 levels of links inside the privacy policy.

Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#128

Post by vedmakk »

Wow, i randomly opened the 1960s catalog and the furniture looks just modern... they would perfectly fit in a todays living room.

Either time stood still in the furniture industry, they did timeless designs or the 60s trends are just coming back.

But I didnt expect that.

Re: IKEA Catalogs 1951-2021

#129

Post by ghaff »

ohples wrote: post #125
Reason077 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IKEA likes to find ways to get you into their physical stores because they know you’re going to end up buying more than just the items you came for. So they have a website that sort of teases you, but isn’t actually good enough to replace the physical stores. You’ll start on the website, but get frustrated with it and eventually just drive over to IKEA to find the items you want. And you’ll also come home with some c…

> IKEA likes to find ways to get you into their physical stores because they know you’re going to end up buying more than just the items you came for. If only they actually had a decent density of stores in the US. I live north of a major metro area (Boston) and I have to drive over 1.5 hours to an IKEA. I used to live in Raleigh, NC and the closest one was over 3.5 hours away. Although maybe this is part of the stra…

I actually needed a couple of closet accessories after some renovation and IKEA seemed to make the most sense. I could have driven to the Boston-area IKEA but it was a pretty hectic time and, while I could have made a day-long expedition out of the process, at the end of the day, it just made more sense to pay them $60 or whatever to deliver what I needed to assemble and use.

And, yes, I would probably have bought some other things had I gone to the store.

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