Klippan (sofa)

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Klippan sofa, red fabric cover

Klippan is a sofa model from the Swedish furniture company IKEA . It was developed by Swedish designer Lars Engman in the 1970s and first sold in 1979. It has been produced continuously since then (as of 2018) and is one of the best-selling IKEA furniture. Between 1998 and 2005 alone, the Klippan sofa was sold 1.5 million times worldwide.

“The Klippan sofa exemplifies the IKEA saga: strong design, logistical efficiency and constant cost reduction.” It is named after the town of Klippan in southern Sweden . In 2017, a miniature version of the Klippan sofa for dogs and Klippan doll furniture were also launched.

design

Klippan sofas, orange leather
Klippan sofa, rear view, covered with red velvet

The basic shape of the Klippan sofa is based on a flat, stretched-out cuboid with a notch on the front that forms the seat. The outer sides are at right angles to each other and to the seat, only the backrest is inclined towards the seat. The arm and back rests are broad and cubic and form a continuous line. The seat height is comparatively low, the backrest is low. The straight lines without any protruding or protruding side or backrests ensure that the sofa can be used in a very space-saving manner and can also be used in small rooms or niches. With a total length of 1.80 m and a height of 66 cm, the sofa fits easily through common doors.

The sofa consists of a base that was initially made of wood and later a combination of chipboard and fiberboard . The seat is equipped with metal springs . The entire sofa is evenly covered with soft polyurethane foam upholstery . Various removable covers can be placed on top. IKEA also offers these covers individually, sometimes as limited editions (e.g. the Lyskraft cover in 2018 ). In addition, other companies offer matching covers as an IKEA hack so that the sofa can be adapted to suit your preference or furnishing style. Only versions with leather covers have a fixed connection between the base, upholstery and cover material. The sofa stands on four feet, originally tapered and made of lacquered wood, now cylindrical made of aluminum.

history

Designer Lars Engman designed the Klippan sofa as a sturdy and child-friendly piece of furniture in the 1970s, according to him, after his little daughter and her friends ruined an expensive Italian sofa within a few months. The design therefore provided for soft shapes and edges, which were mounted on a stable base and covered with removable and washable covers.

In 1998, IKEA had a 1: 6 scale miniature made by the Vitra Design Museum as a Christmas present for its employees . Vitra made 8000 copies of the miniature, which like the original has a removable cover. A small wooden stick was supplied with which the cover could be pushed into the spaces between the upholstery and shaped.

In 2004, the components of the sofa were redesigned so that the parts fit in a flat box and the customer can assemble the piece of furniture himself at home by designing the arm and backrest so that they can be transported separately and then inserted into the seat where they click firmly into place. This has doubled the transport capacity for Klippan sofas. IKEA offers Klippan as a two-seater, a four-seater version was only offered between 2006 and 2007.

For the opening of the IKEA Museum in Älmhult in 2016, IKEA asked its customers to share personal memories and stories about the two IKEA classics Billy and Klippan. That same year, IKEA shocked German customers with the announcement that it would rename the sofa in Bielefeld , which turned out to be an April Fool's joke.

Manufacturing

Originally Klippan was made in Sweden, but after a short time IKEA changed the production location and had the model produced in Poland in order to save costs. In 2005, Klippan was manufactured at ten locations in order to meet the strong global demand on site (five manufacturers in Europe, three in the USA and two in China).

In what was then the GDR , a number of companies produced numerous economic goods for the “ West ”, including IKEA. According to former employees of the Dresden-Hellerau Furniture Combine, inmates manufactured the Klippan sofa from 1975 onwards in the GDR detention center in Waldheim . As can be seen from the documents of the former Ministry for State Security of the GDR ("Stasi"), IKEA was careful not to let prisoners, especially political prisoners, produce it, but was able to do this despite having its own office in the GDR. Not controlling the capital of East Berlin effectively. According to the Stasi documents, IKEA received threatening letters in 1984, which, among other things, denounced the production of the Klippan sofa by inmates after the Western public became aware of the production of IKEA furniture in GDR prisons in 1983/1984. As a result, IKEA tried to get a closer look at the production conditions. For its part, the GDR was keen not to lose IKEA as a buyer of economic goods. The IM “Ilona Henke” installed by the Stasi in the East Berlin IKEA office described this dilemma as follows: “IKEA does not depart from the assumption that the model mentioned ['Klippan' / CS] in Waldheim could still be produced by inmates . [...] Since this model is sold in the IKEA mail order houses in several countries, it would really not be appropriate to have it come to evidence at any time that inmates may be involved in the production of this model. There is certainly no need for a polemic about the fact that it would be cannibalized as a hit for highly stylized political spectacles, not only against the furniture industry, but against the politics of the GDR. "The general director of the VEB Sitzmöbelwerk Waldheim, which belonged to the furniture combine Dresden-Hellerau and employed prisoners in one part of the company, assured the Swedish company that it would no longer get any furniture from Waldheim in the future and that production would be relocated to another part of the company. However, an IM reported to the State Security that Klippan was still being made by inmates in Waldheim; a factory tour, as IKEA had requested, must be prevented.

The Waldheim seating furniture factory caused more complaints than other furniture manufacturers in the GDR. It is unclear whether the cause of the production deficiencies was the inadequate training of prisoners, they carried out sabotage or the deficiencies had some other cause. In addition to Klippan , the factory also produced the Alvajo corner sofa set for IKEA .

Web links

Commons : Klippan (sofa)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Leanna Garfield: Ikea's top design chief reveals the company's best product of all time . In: INSIDER . February 19, 2017 ( thisisinsider.com [accessed November 17, 2018]).
  2. ↑ a b c d What A Sweetheart Of A Love Seat. In: Bloomberg Businessweek. November 14, 2005, accessed November 17, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Meet Klippan the IKEA sofa . In: TheRecord.com . March 4, 2011 ( therecord.com [accessed November 17, 2018]).
  4. ↑ IKEA launches first range of furniture for cats and dogs . In: Dezeen . October 10, 2017 ( dezeen.com [accessed November 17, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Julia Seeger: Classic: Ikea chief designer tells the story of his favorite furniture . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . ( mz-web.de [accessed on November 17, 2018]).
  6. ↑ LYSKRAFT: IKEA classics reissued - IKEA company blog. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  7. ↑ The 12 most popular IKEA products of all time . In: Business Insider . ( businessinsider.de [accessed November 17, 2018]).
  8. ↑ miniaturstuhl.de Entry: Miniature “Klippan Sofa”. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  9. ^ Four of IKEA's iconic designs stood the test of time and cost less today . In: www.ottawacitizen.com . ( ottawacitizen.com [accessed November 17, 2018]).
  10. ↑ Ikea2010 press kit. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Tell us your KLIPPAN or BILLY story! - IKEA company blog. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Are you already sitting on BIELEFELD? - IKEA company blog. Retrieved November 19, 2018 .
  13. ^ Volksstimme Magdeburg: Ikea sofa manufactured in the GDR prison in Waldheim. Retrieved November 18, 2018 .
  14. ↑ The Ikea File. Retrieved November 18, 2018 .
  15. ^ A b Federal Agency for Civic Education: Concealment of Forced Labor. Retrieved November 18, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Tobias Wunschik: The knowledge of western exports from prisoner work, the role of the state security and the trustee for interzonal trade. In: ders .: prison goods for the class enemy. Prisoner work in the GDR, east-west trade and state security (1970–1989). (= Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic (BStU), Analyzes and Documents, Volume 37). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-525-35080-5 , pp. 248-273, here: p. 260.
  17. ↑ Tobias Wunschik: Sofas from Waldheim - the rivals Kamprad and Lämmerzahl. In: ders .: prison goods for the class enemy. Prisoner work in the GDR, east-west trade and state security (1970–1989). (= Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic (BStU), Analyzes and Documents, Volume 37). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-525-35080-5 , pp. 131-164.