U.S. – IKEA is re-launching the original piece of furniture that kick-started the flatpack revolution. The LÖVBACKEN side table, originally sold by IKEA as the LÖVET in 1956, is making a come-back in Europe since August 2013 and now also in the US.

The LÖVBACKEN takes its inspiration from the LÖVET or ‘the leaf’, the company’s first product to be sold in a flat pack rather than fully-assembled. Almost 60 years on, the table has been redeveloped and re-issued by IKEA as the LÖVBACKEN, enabling everyone to own a piece of design history.

LÖVBACKEN is faithful to the original design right down to its measurements. One tweak to the design will see the original use of jacaranda for the first LÖVET table top replaced with a stained poplar veneer on MDF for the LÖVBACKEN.

According to IKEA folklore the LOVET was being used in an IKEA catalogue photography session but its three-legged, leaf shape proved too cumbersome for designer Gillis Lundgren to fit into the car. To solve this, Lundgren sawed off the legs and, at that moment started a flatpack, self-assembly revolution.