The Axminster rug BÅSTAD was designed by Gillis Lundgren. It is an example of the then ongoing effort to make wool rugs of modern design, rather than making imitations of Persian rugs, for example.
Ingvar Kamprad was very interested in rugs, and early on he learned a lot about their history and production. He understood the benefit of selling sofas, armchairs, lamps and rugs together. In the catalogues, rugs were described as “comfort-creators for young people”, and they became important home furnishing products. They went from covering two pages in the 1952 IKEA catalogue to fifteen in 1962. So in ten years, Ingvar had made IKEA a rug dealer with a wide, unique range.
When BÅSTAD was launched in the 1958 IKEA catalogue, Gillis Lundgren had already designed two other rugs: TIMGLAS and PRISMA. BÅSTAD was described as a “bargain for the discerning rug customer”. It was produced mechanically at a factory called Firth & Sons at Clifton Mill in Yorkshire, England, which helped to keep the price down. Large volumes were required for IKEA to make rugs of in-house design in that kind of factory, but by then IKEA was selling so many rugs that it wasn’t a problem.
