Vintage treasure comes in many forms — cars to records to an IKEA shelf that may be sitting in the unassuming Calgary home.
And from interior design firms to college student dorms, the IKEA ENETRI has become a very desirable item on the second hand market. With postings appearing on Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace only to be sold the same day if not the same hour. Prices can vary from a couple hundred dollars to well over a thousand.
“I bought it four years ago for a 100 bucks because we needed a shelf for our basement,” said Joshua Muir who had recently sold an ENETRI shelf locally on Facebook Marketplace. “Someone told me that it could be worth as much as $1,400. I was shocked, I mean, it’s from IKEA. We had no attachment, so it was an easy sell as we needed the space in the basement more than a shelf. And to make 300 per cent profit? Awesome deal.”
The ENETRI has been a notable item from IKEA’s catalogue for vintage collectors and people attracted to the brand’s history. The shelf has recently returned to mainstream media through platforms like TikTok and Instagram. With a clean postmodern design, many people now want one for their apartment or living room.
The shelf first appeared in 1985 and was called the IKEA GUIDE designed by Niels Gammelgaard. The GUIDE featured multi-coloured shelves on a metal frame. The IKEA ENETRI, a reissue of the original design under a new name and different colours, came out in 2002 and featured fewer primary colours and more natural tones, making it an easy addition to many homes.
Gammelgaard is famous industrial designer born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1944. After graduating from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1970, his design work, starting with the FOLKE chair, became recognized internationally during a long-standing partnership with IKEA from 1975 to 2005.
He created many pieces of furniture for the brand including the ENETRI shelf and SKÅLBODA chair. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad gave Gammelgaard the nickname “the man of steel!” A proper moniker as Gammelgaard pioneered the use of metals and plastics in IKEA’s seating catalogue.
The ENETRI shelf, and its 40-year-old history, has come to be adored on social media and design pages making it a hot piece of property.
“The design definitely plays a big part in it. And now, with postmodern design becoming more popular, it makes sense that a piece of furniture like this is becoming a sought-after item,” said Colton Hayes, a vintage collector and interior designer at Calgary-based Way of Normal.
Unearthing ENETRI in Calgary
So how hard is it to find one of these shelves in Calgary? Regardless of how popular it is now, the ENETRI is an IKEA product, which comes with certain implications.
According to the IKEA’s values and visions statement on their website: “We bring the IKEA Brand to millions of homes, offering well-designed, functional, durable, affordable and sustainable home furnishing solutions to people with big dreams and thin wallets,”
IKEA is meant to be affordable and widely available, which means that many can be found in Calgary, and not always at the inflated, popularity-induced pricing. These shelves can sometimes be seen posted by people unaware of the trend who are cleaning out their garages or basements. While they can be found for a real bargain, these ads often have multiple people making offerings on them in minutes.
“I find buying them secondhand is tough because they sell so quickly on Marketplace, and then vintage sellers re-sell them at higher prices but they also sell just as fast,” said Hayes.
The frustrating and competitive process of finding one of these shelves has made the curation of these items a valuable service. Local vintage curation page Genius Bones is run by Chester Ebona. He has been curating vintage IKEA among many other pieces of furniture and accessories before interior design started trending on social media.
“I noticed the trend, maybe the middle of last year, started taking root in mainstream media. It definitely has benefitted my business especially as I specialized in discontinued and vintage IKEA furniture housewares,” said Ebona.
“I think it’s cool to see certain discontinued or vintage furniture from IKEA gain popularity again,” adds Ebona. “It’s not only good for the environment but also very affordable if you’re able to find them for a good deal.”
For vintage collectors and interior designers, these items have been iconic long before now. Trending items, like the ENETRI shelf, are now more in the public eye and no longer as niche.
“I think anything that brings more attention to the design community and maybe gets someone interested in design who wasn’t before is great,” said Hayes. “It’s nice seeing people be passionate about their furniture and being more conscious about what they buy for their homes.”
IKEA has also noticed the trend with recent collections containing designs from their archive. The Nytillverkad Collection featured popular items like the SKÅLBODA chair and BAGGBODA side table from the ’70s. These retro reissues have fans speculating that the ENETRI might make a comeback.
Until it’s reissued though, the ENETRI will continue to be sought after by collectors and enthusiasts. Sitting in basements holding books, or in a garage with old rollerskates and paint cans, this shelf is more valuable than most Calgarians might think.