THE BILLY

It doesn’t look like much, though… But this bookcase is a star, cheerfully approaching its 50th birthday.

With 60 million copies sold! It is said that every six seconds, someone somewhere buys a Billy.
It is therefore probably the most shared piece of furniture on the planet.
A world record for this very discreet bookcase, designed by a designer, Gillis Lundgren, who is just as discreet, and who was, in 1953, one of the first employees of the Swedish brand Ikea.

Billy, or the iconic and revolutionary shelf! Yes, in 1979, at a time when the world was shaken by the Iranian revolution, the British liberal revolution, the Nicaraguan revolution, the 2nd oil shock, the arrival of a new Polish pope, the first report on global warming, and so on… deep in the forests of southern Sweden, a small revolution was brewing in the world of design and bookcases: The arrival of Billy!

But why such a success that continues to this day?

It must be said that the arrival of Billy marked the death of display cabinets and other grandfatherly cupboards! Indeed, it is very simple, with zero frills and zero ornaments. Only shelves to store books.
And above all, it is incredibly sturdy. You can put your largest volumes on it and fill it to the brim; its shelves won’t bend under the weight… And that is not the least of its assets.

It is also made for all spaces, because it can be placed anywhere, in the hallway, the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the office… Wherever you have free space, you can put a Billy!
And then, it multiplies as much as you want, according to your desire… You move into a larger house, and presto, you add a Billy next to the first one! And you even have the choice of height, length, width… In short, you do what you want with it, because it is flat-packed and modular!

It is also the piece of furniture whose price has only gone down! Suffice it to say that the Swedish brand has not lied about its values and truly embodies democratic design here: making timeless, practical furniture accessible to all!

Legend has it that it was the catalog manager, Billy Liljedahl, who made the request, noticing that at Ikea, they made storage furniture for practically everything… except for books. To thank him, the most iconic bookcase in the world is named Billy.