Karin Mobring

Karin Mobring was born in Östersund, Sweden. She showed artistic talents and took up studies at Carl Malmsten’s Verkstadsskola. In 1964, Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA’s founder, saw a wooden armchair designed by Karin Mobring for a competitor to IKEA. He was enchanted by the chair. Karin Mobring has recounted how she was rung up by a staff administrator at IKEA who wondered if she knew the name of the largest furniture producer in Sweden. Nordiska Kompaniet (NK), thought Karin Mobring, wrongly, since it was already IKEA. Despite her mistake, she was invited to meet Ingvar Kamprad. The meeting led to her being employed the same year. The furniture designed by Karin Mobring in the mid-1960s in beech and pine were well in tune with the youthful, easy-going style that was in fashion then. The geometrically distinctive construction of the furniture associates to the concept fundamental. However the idiom was dainty, friendly and gentle. No sharp edges, in accordance with Carl Malmsten’s mantra. Karin Mobring’s furniture was mentioned with respect, but interviews with her and newspaper articles were extremely rare. She always kept in the background and did not draw attention to herself, despite her skilfulness. In Östersund, Karin Mobring lived a very retiring and anonymous life. Wild flowers, nature, music and literature filled her life. She died in 2005. A little meadow and strip of the shore at Frösön Östersund have been named after her.