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Have you ever wondered what each letter stands for in IKEA?
We were curious, so we sought after the true meaning behind one of our favourite places on earth.
Turns out, IKEA is an acronym for the following – Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.
The acronym is derived from Ingvar Kamprad (the store’s founder), Elmtaryd (the name of the farm he grew up on) and Agunnaryd (the village in he grew up in.
Apparently, IKEA’s name was shorted due to the fact that Ingvar was dyslexic and needed code to classify the products.
So, here are some other fun/random/informative IKEA facts to blow your mind.
1. IKEA sells houses
If you happen to live in Scandinavia or the UK, you can actually head to an IKEA store and buy a flat-pack house. The BoKlol houses were originally released in Sweden in 1996 and have since expanded to other IKEA stores across the world.
2. The IKEA catalogue is more popular than the Bible
Well, sort of. Every year there are almost three times more copies of the catalogue printed than the bible. They started printing the catalog in 1951 and it has since taken on a life of its own, consuming a full 70% of the companies marketing budget every year and developing a devoted fan base of people who analyze the images looking for obscure books in the bookshelves, Mickey Mouse references and cats hiding in the fake households. There are now 55 editions printed in 27 languages every year.
3. They were the first company to feature a gay relationship in an ad
While the commercial only ran once in 1994, it was officially the first ever company to include a same-sex couple in one of its advert.
4. You can buy virtual merchandise
Since 2008, players of The Sims 2 have had the chance to purchase the IKEA Home Stuff pack and deck out their characters homes with real IKEA products.
Excuse us while we go find a reason to go to IKEA…
This article originally appeared on New Idea.
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