Klippan (sofa)

The Klippan sofa is a popular model of sofa manufactured and sold by IKEA. Klippan means "the Cliff" in Swedish. (IKEA's nomenclature conventions name upholstered furniture after places in Sweden. This sofa is named after Klippan Municipality in Southern Sweden).[1][2] It was first sold in 1979 and celebrated its 30th birthday in 2009[3] and continues to be one of IKEA's most popular and longstanding products. It comes in a standard two-seat size (which fits easily through standard house doorways), and can be fitted with a range of removable and interchangeable fabric covers. As well as standard cotton covers, IKEA sells 'exclusive' collections of covers, retiring designs after a year.[4]

The cover being pushed into place on a Klippan
A typical Klippan sofa

There have been several functional changes to the Klippan in the past 30 years. The initial model featured a solid wood frame. This has been replaced in contemporary models by a less expensive, lightweight frame of combined particleboard, fiberboard and polyurethane foam. Likewise, while earlier models stood on painted wood legs, contemporary Klippan legs are made from steel or aluminum. In 2004, the sofa was reconstructed so that it could be easily flatpacked and put together at home. Adjustments to the materials used in the sofa and the centralization of production methods allowed IKEA to reduce the price of the Klippan sofa by 40% since 1979.[5]

In 2003, the Klippan was used as the standard sofa in a test to compare the British fire safety requirements against the Swedish and mainland European safety requirements. Three Klippans were used, one with no flame retardant treatment, one treated with phosphorus-based flame retardant, and one treated with bromine-based flame retardant. All three sofas were specially manufactured by IKEA in its workshops at Älmhult.[6]

In 2005, a large orange Klippan was installed in Frogmoor township to celebrate the opening of a nearby IKEA store. The Klippan was one of two IKEA items to be replicated at five times the actual size.

References
  1. Merle Brown (2006-07-02). "Design Classics : Ikea Klippen sofa". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 2006-07-15.
  2. Velina Nacheva. "Catching the IKEA fever?". ATC Furniture. Archived from the original on 2018-05-25.
  3. "KLIPPAN, 30 Years of Personal Fashion". The Ikea Blog. Archived from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  4. "Best Sofa Guide". Friday, June 5, 2020
  5. "What A Sweetheart Of A Love Seat". BusinessWeek. 2005-11-14. Archived from the original on 2006-12-02. — the design of Klippan
  6. Petra Andersson and Margaret Simonson (2003-12-29). "Furniture with high fire resistance is good for the environment" (PDF). BrandPosten. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-07-24.
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