Billy bookcase, Gillis Lundgren, the designer who transformed Ikea in the 1950’s
Gillis Lundgren, an industrial designer who helped make Ikea the largest furniture retailer in the world with his no-frills designs, most notably the Billy bookcase that millions of frugal book collectors have used to build their home libraries, has died at 86.
Mr. Lundgren joined Ikea in
1953 as the company’s fourth employee and advanced to become its
first design manager. A draftsman with training in graphics, he
designed hundreds of Ikea’s simple, portable furnishings and was credited
with creating the company logo, whose blue and yellow colors were
taken from the Swedish flag.Every year hundreds of millions of shoppers visit
Ikea stores in pursuit of the economical establishment of a household.
Mr. Lundgren joined Ikea in 1953 as the company’s fourth
employee and advanced to become its first design manager. A draftsman
with training in graphics, he designed hundreds of Ikea’s simple,
portable furnishings and was credited with creating the company logo,
whose blue and yellow colors were taken from the Swedish flag.Every year
hundreds of millions of shoppers visit Ikea stores in pursuit of the economical
establishment of a household.
http://www.ikea.com/assembly_instructions/billy-bookcase--202-cm__JXQ13_PUB.PDF
ikea-billy bookshelf proportions 
According to Quartz, Ikea
produces 15 Billy bookcases per minute and had sold more than 41 million sets
by 2009, after Billy turned 30 — the age at which some Billy owners may choose
to graduate to a higher-end library. Many used Billy bookcases find their way
to new homes, by way of Craigslist or as family hand-me-downs.
“I’m particularly happy that Billy has made it possible for so
many people to build their own little library,” Mr. Lundgren once said. “In the
old days, books were quite uncommon in most homes. These days, everyone has
books, which is as it should be.”
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