The Kamprad family name is linked to IKEA, founded in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943.
Ingvar Kamprad started IKEA as a mail-order business when he was a teenager. The name IKEA comes from his initials, the family farm Elmtaryd, and the nearby village of Agunnaryd, all in Småland, Sweden. Furniture became the company’s central business in the 1950s.
IKEA’s flat-pack furniture and customer assembly model helped reduce transport and storage costs. The first IKEA store opened in Älmhult in 1958, and the company later expanded internationally.
Although IKEA’s corporate structure is complex, the Kamprad family’s foundation-linked ownership arrangements have been central to its long-term control. IKEA is not simply a conventional family-run retailer, and its operating companies and brand-owning entities are separate.