The Surprising History of IKEA
IKEA：藍黃小屋，你所不知道的事
英倫翻譯 圖文摘自http://www.appledaily.com.tw/
To people familiar with the modern furniture designs of IKEA, the history of the world’s largest furniture company may come as a bit of a surprise. For one thing, when the Swedish company was founded in 1943, it sold pens, watches, wallets, and nylon stockings, but not one piece of furniture. It wasn’t until five years later that the company began selling furniture. Another surprising fact is that this company, now a multibillion dollar business, was started by a 17-year-old boy. Ingvar Kamprad took the initials of his first and last names and combined them with the first letters of the farm and village where he grew up, Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, to create his company’s name. Over the decades, IKEA has grown enormously by opening up stores around the globe. IKEA’s philosophy is to make both the home and the world a better place to live.
對於那些熟悉《宜家家居》現代風家具設計的人而言，這家全世界最大家具公司的歷史可能會讓他們很驚訝。首先，這家瑞典公司在 1943 年成立時，它銷售筆、手錶、皮夾和尼龍褲襪，卻沒有一項是家具。直到創立五年後，《宜家家居》才開始銷售家具。另一個驚人的事情是，這家好幾十億美元的公司是由一位十七歲男孩創立的。英格瓦•坎普拉（Ingvar Kamprad）擷取並結合他姓名、成長的農場和村莊 ── 艾姆赫特（Elmtaryd）和阿根納瑞德（Agunnaryd）── 這些字的字首字母，作為公司的名稱。幾十年來，《宜家家居》大幅成長，在全世界開了許多分店。《宜家家居》的企業哲學是要將住家及全世界打造成更美好的生活環境。
