IKEA revives popular 1970s shelf by Niels Gammelgaard in Nytillverkad vintage collection

IKEA has announced it will re-release some of its most celebrated vintage designs from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including a steel-framed shelf that is one of the Swedish furniture brand's most popular products on the resale market.

Niels Gammelgaard's 1978 Guide shelf, later renamed Enetri and now reissued as Byakorre, is one of ten designs in IKEA's sixth Nytillverkad collection of reissues, alongside new versions of Gillis Lundgren's 1973 Tajt fold-out lounge chair and Erik Wørts's 1963 oakwood Novette bench.

Guide is an open shelving unit with a light galvanised steel frame and practical customisation options that have made it popular with collectors and fans of modernist design, especially on TikTok.

The particleboard shelves are reversible, with white on one side and anthracite grey on the other, and shelf edges in either plain white or different bright colours depending on the placement.

The Ikea Museum describes how the design came about after Gammelgaard discovered that the machine making laminate boards could change colours at no extra cost and that their equal 170-centimetre height and length made packaging extremely efficient.

The piece can sell for upwards of £800 through resale sites despite its original retail price being just €65 (£54).

Two of Gammelgaard's chairs are also being reissued: the foldable metal-and-canvas Mofalla, originally called Cox when it was released in 1978, and the deep-set powder-coated steel mesh Skålboda lounge chair, originally known as Järpen in 1983.

Skålboda is already on sale after being revived in orange and black in 2023 but is now also available in white, bringing it closer to the original galvanised steel finish.

Gammelgaard – an architect who has also designed furniture for Fritz Hansen, Frederica and Cappellini – told Dezeen that he sought out IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad early in his career because he shared his belief that good design should be affordable and "available to many".

"When I went to work for Ingvar he said to me: 'You, with your fine education from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, must now do some good for the many people', which was exactly what I aspired to do in my career," Gammelgaard explained.

"That said, when I started my collaboration with IKEA, my peers in Denmark were a bit snobbish – and as I was an architect, it was especially frowned upon."

He said he hadn't dreamed while designing the products that they would still be popular 50 years later although their enduring appeal attests to their durability – even at the low price point.

"The fact that the past designs have stood the test of time is a testament to the durable materials we used, with products passed down through generations," he said.

"Reproducing these designs today also proves the design is functional and timeless, and it's so humbling to see them reach a new audience."

Other designs in the latest Nytillverkad collection include Lundgren's Tajt chair, rebranded as Vårkumla.

It features two equally sized square cushions that can either be stacked to form an armchair or set end to end to make a single mattress. Multiples of the chair can also be arranged into a sofa.

The cover star of IKEA's 1973 catalogue, Vårkumla is being released in its original denim upholstery.

Two more of Lundgren's chair designs that have already been reissued by IKEA – the Dyvlinge swivel chair and Sotenäs armchair – are also being released in additional colours.

The 1963 Novette bench, updated as the Guttane side and coffee table, is the oldest reissue in the collection.

Designed by Danish architect and furniture designer Erik Wørts, it marries solid oak legs with an oak veneer tabletop and features a distinctive ledge that stops items rolling or sliding off the surface.

Rounding out the sixth Nytillverkad collection are the Källarhals glass vases, a revival of a design by Anna Efverlund from 1995, and two sets of bed linen adapting a squiggly popcorn pattern by Efverlund from the 90s and a blue-and-white cloud pattern by Sven Fristedt from 1973.

IKEA will release all ten of the new Nytillverkad products globally from February 2025.

Highlights from this year at IKEA include the launches of Raw Color's Tesammans collection, which quickly sold out, and the retailer's first pet furniture range, titled Utsådd.

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