KATINKA was a suite comprising a sofa and armchair, shown in the 1968 IKEA catalogue alongside the rotating coffee table KARUSELL – all designed by Karin Mobring. The sofa and armchair were made of bent, lacquered plywood with corduroy cushions. The KARUSELL coffee table was made of particleboard.
Already in the early 1960s, Ingvar Kamprad had started looking into particleboard as a good, well-priced raw material. He imagined that the material would work well in combination with the modern new furniture style he had seen at the Milan furniture fair in 1960 – a style that was clearly Scandinavian inspired.
The result was clear to see in the 1968 IKEA catalogue. It presented several new series, with a lot of space being devoted to Karin Mobring’s new plywood furniture. It was presented as “Fashionable furniture that’s also comfortable”. Both KATINKA and KARUSELL came in red, blue and white. The KATINKA suite was only in the IKEA catalogue for two years, but the KARUSELL rotating coffee table was a real success and was sold for ten years.
