- IKEA’s Nytillverkad collection revives the Swedish furniture giant’s most iconic designs from the 1950s through 1980s, including Niels Gammelgaard’s beloved GUIDE shelving unit (1985).
- The rest of the collection includes four statement chairs, along with benches and reissues of archival home textiles.
- Expect the Nytillverkad collection to be available globally in IKEA stores, from February 2025.
If you don’t spend all of your spare time combing through listings on Facebook Marketplace or eBay, it might come as a shock that decades-old IKEA furniture can sell for serious cash in 2024.
Capitalising on this growing interest in characterful vintage furniture, IKEA’s Nytillverkad collection is bringing back Niels Gammelgaard’s GUIDE shelving unit (first released in 1985), now set to be sold under the new BYAKORRE moniker beginning early next year.
At the time of its first release, Gammelgaard’s design was considered particularly innovative: thanks to a reversible, multi-level construction involving shelf panels painted blue, green, yellow, and red on one side; and uniformly white on the other.
“I love the idea that you can switch the mood in your home through design,” says the acclaimed Danish designer. “This piece allows you to play and customise the shelf to your whim, whether you want bold colours or something more subtle.”
A simple steel frame with splashes of primary colour might not sound exciting. But while the original GUIDE shelf could be had for €65 and enjoyed a four-year production run, today enthusiasts can expect to pay at least $4,000 for an original unit.
Now, we’re certainly not saying that your BILLY bookcase will be worth thousands in 2050, but IKEA has worked with some important designers over the decades and the brand’s cachet in serious design circles is growing.
In addition to the new GUIDE-inspired shelving unit, IKEA will also debut the COX foldable living room chair inspired by the Gammelgaard’s tubular easy chair, nicknamed the MOFALLA, from 1978. Two other chairs designed by Gillis Lundgren, the MILA (1967) and the PUCK (1969), will make their return as the orange DYVLINGE swivel and red SOTENÄS respectively.
If you’ve been waiting for a statement-making bit of storage to add to your home, the Gammelgaard-inspired BYAKORRE could be just the design you need.
Expect it, along with the rest of the Nytillverkad collection, to released in February 2025. Available online and at IKEA stores worldwide.
