Ikea Gyllen

IKEA is the world's largest furniture retailer, but its origins were far humbler than its global footprint suggests. Founded in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad in the Swedish village of Älmhult, the company began as a mail-order business selling pens, wallets and picture frames. It wasn't until 1948 that the IKEA catalog started featuring furniture, altering the course of modern domestic design.

IKEA is rooted in democratic design, or the belief that well-made, beautiful objects should be accessible to everyone. This philosophy took shape in the 1950s when IKEA began working with independent designers to develop its own furniture lines. The pivotal innovation came in 1956, when IKEA introduced flat-pack furniture, a practical solution born out of necessity when designer Gillis Lundgren removed a table's legs to fit it into a car. This single insight reshaped how the world thinks about manufacturing, shipping and the relationship between consumer and object.

The 1970s and 1980s are now widely considered the golden age of IKEA design, a period when the company regularly collaborated with outside designers before transitioning to entirely in-house production. These decades produced some of the brand's most collectible pieces, and vintage examples are today actively sought after by collectors worldwide. Karen Mobring's safari-influenced seating — including the Diana, Natura and Amiral chairs — captures the organic, relaxed spirit of the era, while Noboru Nakamura's Bore chair and Lundgren's Pixi lounge chair round out the most coveted 1970s offerings. The 1980s brought a sharper, more industrial sensibility through Niels Gammelgaard's work in wire and tubular steel, among them the Enetri shelf, the wire Jarpen chairs and the foldable Ted chair, as well as Tord Björklund's Skye chaise and Klinte armchair.

Beyond these core collaborators, IKEA has worked with some of the most significant names in 20th-century design. Kai Kristiansen, Ettore Sottsass, Verner Panton and Mats Theselius all produced pieces for the brand, and rare examples of their IKEA work are among the most prized finds for collectors today. More recently, collaborations with designers such as Ilse Crawford, Tom Dixon and Hella Jongerius through its IKEA PS (“post scriptum”) collections have continued to push the brand into more expressive territory.

IKEA has also shaped retail culture itself. Its sprawling, maze-like store format — introduced in Älmhult in 1958 — transformed shopping into an experience, complete with room vignettes, a Swedish café and a one-way path designed to inspire. The brand has since expanded to more than 60 countries, while its annual catalog, once one of the most widely distributed publications in the world, became a cultural artifact in its own right.

IKEA continues to balance its founding tension: mass production in the service of good design. As Kamprad once put it, "to design a desk which may cost $1,000 is easy for a furniture designer, but to design a functional and good desk which shall cost $50 can only be done by the very best."

Find a range of vintage and collectible IKEA chairs, shelving and furniture on 1stDibs.

From the kitchen to the bedroom and everywhere in between, there is one major part of home decor that you definitely want to master: lighting. Carefully selected vintage sconces and wall lights can do wonders in establishing mood and highlighting your distinctive personality.

We’re a long way from the candelabra-inspired chandeliers of the medieval era. Lighting is no longer merely practical, and lighting designers have been creating and reinventing lighting solutions for eons. Because of the advancements crafted by these venturesome makers, we now have the opportunity to bring unique, customizable lighting solutions into our homes.

It’s never been easier to create dramatic bedrooms, cozy kitchen areas and cheerful bars than it is today. Think of an elegant wall sconce as functional and as a work of art, adding both light and style to your hallways, whimsical kids’ rooms and elsewhere.

When choosing a lighting solution, first determine what your needs are: Will you opt for a moody or a bright feel? The room that will serve as your home office will need adequate lighting — think “the brighter, the better” for this particular setting.

For the bedroom, bedside wall lamps with warm-temperature bulbs instead of bedside table lamps could be the way to go to induce a sense of calm or intimacy. Try to match the style of the wall light or sconce that you’re installing to the overall design scheme of your room. It’s never “just a light.” You should approach the lighting of a room with a mindset that is one part practical and one part aesthetics-driven.

Let 1stDibs help you set the mood with the right antique and vintage wall lights and sconces for your home. Our collection includes every kind of fixture, from sculptural works by Austrian craftsman J.T. Kalmar to chic industrial-style wall sconces, from adjustable painted aluminum wall lamps designed by Artemide to a wide variety of minimalist mid-century modern masterpieces.