Old IKEA furniture is suddenly becoming popular among young people. There are several reasons for this. Many young people find older IKEA pieces more exciting than today’s mass-produced items because they are more striking and experimental.
IKEA furniture is considered a cheap alternative by many when one needs a new piece quickly or wants to furnish their own apartment for the first time.
However, IKEA has inadvertently created a collector’s market through its own design history, where once budget furniture has become sought-after vintage objects. Particularly, young people of Gen Z and Millennials are interested in the old furniture.
The “Vintage Ikea” trend is suddenly modern again
Why are old pieces becoming valuable? The fact that pieces from the 1970s to the 1990s are becoming expensive often lies in the fact that they were not mass-produced and stand out design-wise. Business Insider reports that the Impala chair is now said to be worth 50 times what it was before: While the chair cost about 350 US dollars at its launch, prices on platforms like 1stDIBS, which specializes in vintage, are more around 12,000 US dollars.
Specifically, furniture made of metal, glass, or steel is particularly attractive to collectors because it lasts longer than products made of wood or delicate upholstery.
And why are young people interested? There are several reasons why young people are now interested in old IKEA furniture: design, nostalgia, and uniqueness.
Many young people find older IKEA pieces more exciting than today’s mass-produced items because they are more striking, experimental, and often emotionally charged. Suddenly, the “Vintage Ikea” trend is modern again, and old furniture is in demand like never before, as noted by the magazine Schöner Wohnen.
For Millennials, these are often pieces that remind them of childhood, youth, or their first apartments; for Gen Z, there is additionally the allure of the “old, but new” look. The Wall Street Journal (Paywall) reports on several young people who buy such furniture to furnish their apartments with it. In the end, it’s mainly about the good feeling and not about reselling the furniture for a profit.
By the way, IKEA started entering the gaming sector a few years ago, with chairs, tables, and other accessories that are specifically designed for gamers. They collaborated with ASUS for this. You can read more about it on MeinMMO: Yes, IKEA is now also making gaming furniture
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