Its name may mean ‘poisonous’ in Swedish, but the GIFTIG rug was actually made entirely of pure new wool. Åsa Gray, a multifaceted designer specialising in textiles, created the rug for the IKEA Tomorrow programme. It was a slightly different, trend-conscious collection, created for a younger, urban target group, but based on the same philosophy as the rest of the IKEA range.
About 300 products from all range categories were eventually included in IKEA Tomorrow, which were sold at IKEA for a few years. Initially, they were only sold at the IKEA stores in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Zürich and Paris. The programme was launched with great fanfare on the back page of the 1987 IKEA catalogue, with the words:
“The most exciting thing to happen to Swedish home furnishing since IKEA began. And a taster of tomorrow’s design. A department where imagination and renewal know no limits, just like our ambition always to offer low prices.”
GIFTIG was one of the important products in this collection. The rug was Axminster woven in modern design and was of high quality. And the price was, of course, low.
