The Swedish entrepreneur who founded Ikea as a teenager, turning the company into the biggest furniture retailer in the world, has died aged 91.
Ingvar Kamprad, who created Ikea in 1943 when he was 17, is credited as a pioneer of flat-pack furniture and transforming the style of British homes. He died on Saturday following a brief illness with his family at his side.
Mr Kamprad’s legacy was hailed by Ikea bosses, the Swedish foreign minister and retail experts, with Ikea calling him one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century.
“Ingvar Kamprad was a great entrepreneur of the typical southern Swedish kind - hardworking and stubborn, with a lot of warmth and a playful twinkle in his eye,” Ikea said. “He worked until the very end of his life, staying true to his own motto that most things remain to be done.”
Margot Wallstrom, Sweden’s foreign minister, said he had “helped bring Sweden to the world”.
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After founding a business selling pencils and postcards in rural southern Sweden, Mr Kamprad went on to create a retail furniture empire generating annual sales of €38 billion across more than 400 stores in 49 markets and employing more than 190,000 workers.
The appeal in the UK, 30 years after Ikea entered the market, has shown little sign of waning, with the store recording its sixth year of growth and customers continuing to travel to its vast out-of-town shops.
Mr Kamprad’s wealth and that of his family was estimated to be £28 billion, according to the 2017 Sunday Times rich list, ranking him 18th out of the world’s 50 richest.
He is credited with spotting the opportunity of flat-pack furniture in the 1950s after apparently seeing an employee taking the legs off a table to fit it into a customer’s car.
Ikea, a name formed from his initials, the first letters of the family farm and the area in which it is situated, transformed homes by selling lower-priced, modern-designed furniture to the masses.
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Neil Saunders, managing director of Global Data, said distributing flat-pack furniture was “much more efficient and economical than shipping fully made items. It also divided the effort – prices were lower because the customer had to assemble the product; that was the trade-off or compromise”.
“He believed that home furnishings should be democratic; that people of all income levels should be able to afford to decorate and furnish their homes stylishly and comfortably. He also believed in thrift, efficiency and hard work.”
