The 1969 IKEA catalogue launched a new lounge chair, KRÖKEN, under the heading “Fashionable furniture that’s also comfortable”. KRÖKEN had an underframe in nickel-plated steel tubing, and was clad in a very strong fabric of linen quality called ‘firehose fabric’. On top of the fabric was a mattress-like cushion with soft fibre-fill filling.
Designer Christer Blomquist spent a lot of time on ergonomics when developing his new lounge chair. The catalogue is quite poetic in its description: “Don’t you just long to try it? A super-comfy chaise-longue that lets your whole body relax. Your feet come up to a comfortable height, and you sit (or should we say lie?) as comfortably as you could ever wish.” The next year’s catalogue, 1970, also added: “It’s hardly a surprise that KRÖKEN has garnered so much attention in both the Swedish and foreign press.”
But KRÖKEN was not easy to ship, so it left the range in December 1971. However, in March 1973 it came back in a flatter pack, now under the name KROKEN.
