The DOKUMENT storage series, which included everything from a magazine file to a wastepaper basket, is a well-known favourite for many office workers. It was created by design siblings Marianne Hagberg and Knut Hagberg at IKEA.
In the early 1980s, Marianne and Knut often travelled around Asia to find inspiration for new products. At a factory in South Korea, they saw how speaker protectors for car stereos were made out of expanded metal. Marianne once said in an interview:
“We thought expanded metal was an amazing material. It lets light through. And it hides nothing – yet actually hides something. We also found out that if you take one square metre of sheet metal and stretch it in the machine, you can get a piece of expanded metal of twice the area, so two square metres. I immediately realised this was the best possible material for product development, as you get twice as much for your money! That’s how we started working on a series of office accessories made out of expanded metal. First we sketched a few basic samples, and then we started on the whole office series. And it was a big seller!”
The DOKUMENT series joined the range in January 1988 and was in the catalogue for more than 20 years.
