The square DIANA armchair is one of designer Karin Mobring’s most prominent classics. It is a safari chair – a ready-to-assemble, lightweight armchair that was originally used by the British Army in the field. The model was popularised in the 1930s by Danish designer Kaare Klint, who named it the “Safari Chair”.
IKEA released its first version, CIKADA by designer Bengt Ruda, in 1964. The 1967 catalogue presented the model as “The safari armchair – comfortable and practical”.
And 1972 saw the launch of Karin Mobring’s DIANA, with a pine frame. The seat was covered with a strong, sand-coloured load-bearing fabric, wound around the front edge and affixed using leather straps at the back of the seat. The back was fixed and covered with a sand-coloured load-bearing fabric. As a complement there was a polyether cushion for the seat, with a sand-coloured fabric cover.
DIANA was an incredible success, and over the years IKEA launched several safari models – including the best seller CIKADA. But DIANA lasted the longest with 11 years in the IKEA catalogue.
