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Why every home should own a Billy bookcase
The House Beautiful team pick a design classic we think you'll love forever – this time, the IKEA Billy bookcase.
Who designed it?
Gillis Lundregen, as one of the first employees of Swedish furniture giant IKEA, produced some of the brand’s most important pieces. The Billy bookcase sits at the very top of that list. With its initial prototype sketched on the back of a napkin, production of the shelving unit began in 1978 and it has since become one of the most popular pieces of furniture ever created.
Why we love it?
A new Billy is reportedly manufactured every 15 seconds and it’s estimated that there are more than 100 million of them in people’s homes all around the world. Lundgren’s aim was to create firstly ‘an affordable bookcase’, but one ‘that would suit every kind of person and many different living spaces’ too.
The popularity of the creation is testament to the designer’s success. With IKEA's flatpack format, the ubiquitous bookcase must be self-assembled which, although not ideal for those easily frustrated by instruction manuals and finicky screws, is relatively swift and simple once you get going.
There’s a modular element to the Billy, as the design is available in different heights and widths, which can be combined to create infinite configurations that will work in any space.
Why you'll love it forever
Aesthetically, it’s perhaps the Billy’s blank canvas’ quality that makes it so versatile – in some homes, it’s used simply to keep books neat, but in others it acts as a backdrop for exuberant ‘shelfie’ displays, with a curated edit of houseplants, photo frames and assorted trinkets peppered among literary titles.
A simple search on Pinterest reveals other creative ways people have made their mark on a Billy, from wallpapering its back panel for enchanting toy storage in a nursery, to affixing decorative trims to its facade to soften how the piece looks in a bedroom. With its endless possibilities, there’s so much more to it than first meets the eye.
From £15 for a 40 x 28 x 106cm Billy bookcase, IKEA.
What makes a design icon?
For a piece to be truly iconic to the HB editors, it needs to:
Have longevity and really stand the test of time.
Illustrate innovative design, whether from the high street or a showroom.
Be recognisable homeware that deserves the spotlight.
Serve as an object of desire – beautiful, yes, but useful, too.
Be a piece that is used every day by House Beautiful editors.
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