Embark on a road trip through Ikea's catalogue

A new campaign by the Swedish tourist board features… Ikea and some of the names for its iconic furniture. The company has named many of its classics after actual places in Sweden, and Visit Sweden is keen to get a piece of the pie.

More than a trash can

With the ‘Discover the Originals’ campaign, the tourist board Visit Sweden wants people to get to know the places that gave their names to well-known products. For example: Kallax is not just a shelving unit, but also a coastal town in Lapland. Bolmen, a toilet brush, is named after a large lake in the southern province of Småland (also not an unfamiliar name to Ikea regulars).

Those who wish can embark on a trip with Ikea as their guide: the campaign selected 21 well-known Ikea articles and put up signs in the respective cities and towns. For example, travellers visiting Toftan Lake in the central province of Dalarna will see the sign “Welcome to Toftan: more than an Ikea trash can”.

Ikea itself fully endorses the campaign. “It is definitely time for some of the places whose names are used for some of our most popular products to also get some attention. They have earned it, to say the least”, a spokesperson tells CNN. “It is also great fun with an initiative that helps spreading the story behind some of our product names to the many people.”