“Lake Toiletbrush”: How IKEA destroyed the map of Sweden
Bolmen. Now there is a word you do not use every day. Where have you encountered it before? At IKEA, where it’s the name of a cheap toilet brush – for a dollar it’s yours. What you probably do not know is that the brush is named after a pristine lake in southern Sweden. And now that you do know, that lake does not sound so untouched anymore.
IKEA’s curse
Call it IKEA’s curse. A curse that is repeated hundreds of times over the map of Sweden. Beautiful places with exotic names, their attractiveness was weakened by association with everyday objects from the world’s most popular furniture catalog. Where does it leave the tourism industry around Lake Toiletbrush? Down in the dump, is where. But wait: Visit Sweden, the country’s tourist agency, has just launched a counter-offensive.
![](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Stubbarp.png)
For millions of people around the world, IKEA is a symbol of Sweden. And not by mistake. Because even when it has become global, the market leader in assemble-it-yourself furniture has remained true to its roots. Thrift and simplicity – the supposedly typical Scandinavian values - are crucial both for the design of IKEA products and the company’s leadership style. It is no coincidence that its corporate colors, blue and yellow, are the Swedish flag.
Charmingly crazy
This is in line with IKEA’s habit of giving its products charmingly quirky Nordic names. However, that tradition has a slightly different origin. The company’s founder Ingvar Kamprad – his initials are IK in IKEA – was dyslexic, which made it difficult for him to distinguish between numerical product codes. The solution: products got name instead, preferably short ones, which are easy to spell and remember.
![visit sweden](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Masterby.png)
Remember All these products today would be difficult, as IKEA has more than 12,000 articles on its books at this point. Each has a unique, often rather odd Scandinavian name, which remains the same in all IKEA markets around the world. Many products have borrowed their names from places in Sweden, but not all. Here is a glimpse of the method behind the naming system:
- Bathroom items, such as that toilet brush, are all named after Swedish lakes or streams.
- Sofas, chairs and dining sets are all named after places in Sweden. Carpets are, however, named after Danish places and bedroom and living room furniture after Norwegian.
- Outdoor furniture is named after islands in Scandinavia (not just Sweden).
- Desks and chairs get Scandinavian boy names, while fabrics and curtains get Scandinavian girl names.
- Products in various other categories (bowls and vases, lighting elements, paintings and wall decorations and drawers) can be named after Swedish places. Otherwise, they are, different by category, named after fruit, Swedish slang, units of measurement, shipping terminology etc.
60 million Billys
Book covers are usually named after Swedish professional names or Scandinavian boy names. But there are exceptions to all the rules, and the most famous is the bookshelf Billy, with over 60 million units sold and is IKEA’s best-selling product. It was named after Billy Liljedahl, an IKEA advertising manager who had said he wanted “a proper bookshelf, just for books.”
![](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Askersund.png)
It is not known what Mr. Liljedahl thought of giving his name to the world’s most complex piece of furniture. Visit Sweden, on the other hand, makes its opinion on IKEA’s looting of Sweden’s place names quite clear.
In a short video, a spokeswoman for the organization, which stands next to the much-maligned lake Bolmen, says: “We want the people to think about the clear water and the beautiful surroundings, and not a water closet in desperate need of cleaning.” To illustrate her point, she sinks a wooden cup (also IKEA?) Into the lake and … drinks from it, which dares the viewer to overcome the notion that she throws toilet water.
The top of the iceberg
What’s worse, she says, is that “Bolmen is just the tip of the iceberg. If you are looking for Ektorp, all you get are pictures of sofas. On the hashtag Järvfjället, there are only a bunch of deck chairs. And Stubbarp… Legs for storage combinations! IKEA has borrowed hundreds of names from our beautiful country and used them on everything from shelves to trash cans … trash cans! ”
![](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Norberg.png)
Oh, the indignity. After a disapproving look into the camera, she decides: “It is time for the world to know that all these names belong to wonderful places in Sweden. So forget IKEA. Discover the originals! ”
- Ektorp, for example, is also a picturesque Stockholm suburb, wedged between lakes, forests and the Baltic Sea.
- Järvfjället is actually quite adventurous in itself: a mountain peak in the vast and uninhabited northern part of the country, which is good for endless hikes or, if the season is right, skiing.
- Stubbarp, just a pair of legs? So insulting to the real place, an elegant mansion in southern Skåne.
Visit Sweden Discover the originals the site does not list all Swedish toponyms that have been hijacked by IKEA but is limited to the 21 places that are most anxious to regain their identity. Some other examples:
![visit sweden](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Toftan.png)
- Hemsjö is not just a block candle but a village surrounded by forests and lakes, close to the birthplace of Harry Martinson, the Swedish author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974.
- Mästerby is not just a stair chair but a place on the island of Gotland, otherwise known for the battle of Mästerby, when the Danes invaded the island in 1361. The battle is resumed during the island’s annual “medieval week”.
- Skärhamn is, yes, a door handle. But outside IKEAworld, there is also a fishing port on the island of Tjörn in western Sweden. There you can fish, swim and visit Nordic Watercolor Museum. Please do not try any of the door handles in town.
- Norberg is not just a folding table but a small town in Västmanland, close to the mysterious Blue Cave in Klackberg and the mining museum in Sala.
- Kallax is a shelf as well as a coastal village in Swedish Lapland, known for its fermented herring festival every August.
![](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Voxnan.png)
Fermented herring? As for eats? Perhaps this is the only example where the Swedish place undermines the reputation of the IKEA product, instead of the other way around.
For more, see Visit Swedens Discover the originals campaign. Many thanks to Gerrit Op de Beeck for referring me to it.
Strange Maps # 1121
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![](https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Kallax.png)