Photo: Ikea
Ikea is bringing back a colorful, 40-year-old bookshelf that’s designed to be customized. Called the Byakorre, the unit is made of reversible, rearrangeable shelves that are white on one side and gray on the other with blue, green, yellow, and red edges.
The piece is based on the Guide bookshelf Ikea released in 1985, designed by Niels Gammelgaard, who said in a statement that he loves “the idea that you can switch the mood in your home through design”.
The Guide bookshelf was part of a larger effort by Ikea in the 1980s to create furniture that could be packed flat and produced inexpensively. After Gammelgaard and Ikea’s then-product manager for sofas, Lars Engman, visited a factory that made metal wire shopping carts, they applied the technique to home furnishings. The pair designed the Moment sofa, which used a steel mesh frame that could be made in the same factories as shopping carts. The thin metal mesh was cheaper than the metal tubing that was typically used for furniture.
The Guide shelf was designed as a companion piece; the Moment table followed in 1986. Ikea says the shelving unit’s colorful edges were possible because the factory where the shelves were made also made laminate boards from machines that were frequently refilled, so new colors could be produced without any additional cost.
The new Byakorre open shelving unit keeps the same bright ’80s colors and will be released in February 2025 as part of Ikea’s sixth and latest installment of the Nytillverkad collection, which launched to mark the company’s 80th anniversary and continues to revive retro favorites for a new generation. The latest release will also include new versions of vintage Ikea chairs, a bench, and textiles dating from the 1970s and ’80s.
“We have pulled inspiration from four decades, reimagining the pieces to feel fresh and new,” Karin Gustavsson, the Nytillverkad collection’s creative leader, said in a statement. “Simply adding one piece from this collection will make a statement, with items that can also change form and color to fit each individual home”.
Fonte Fast Company
