First flatpack furniture

Flatpack furniture was invented in Älmhult, southern Sweden, in 1956 by Swedish draughtsman Gillis Lundgren. He got the idea for self-assembly furniture after removing the legs from a table that was otherwise too large to fit into his car, and took his invention to local furniture dealer Ingvar Kamprad – the "I" and "K" of IKEA. Flatpacking removes the cost of transporting vast amounts of "air" between the factory and the showroom while transferring the assembly costs to the consumer. By embracing this approach Ingvar Kamprad was able to grow his company from a local furniture dealership into the world's biggest furniture manufacturer.