THE STORY OF OUR FOUNDER

After school Ken Muff Lassen (b. 1939) started a 3-years apprenticeship at Hindsgaul Mannequins.

When military service was completed in 1960, at the age of 21, Ken was hired by Hagen International as Export Sales Manager of Danish furniture to American oil expatriates in the Middle East.

During sales trips, the idea of having one united sales organization representing a number of furniture factories was born. This lead in 1962 to Domus Danica, as a joint sales organization representing 7 furniture factories with Ken Muff Lassen and the 7 factories as equal shareholders.

Domus Danica opened showrooms in Copenhagen and was very successful from the beginning of the adventurous 60s, when the demand for Danish furniture design exploded.

The young entrepreneurial manager, Ken Muff Lassen, was admitted into the group around the influential and international magazine “Mobilia”. A fantastic network was built, that generously shared their knowledge with the young furniture man. Panton, Dietzel, PH, Cadovius, Aagaard Andersen, Halling Koch and Sven Erik Møller from Politiken, who later became copywriter of the Danish IKEA catalogues.

At the very first furniture exhibition in Bella Center in 1965, Domus Danica presented a worldwide sensation with the new Ureform injection molded furniture. This was where Ken Muff Lassen met the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, for the first time.

Domus Danica’s 7 factories developed very differently. Some experienced tremendous growth and others stagnation, which created an imbalance. Also generational changes in 4 of the 7 factories resulted in too much talking and too few new adventures. Ken Muff Lassen therefore sold his share and left Domus Danica on July 31st 1967.

The next day he called Ingvar Kamprad and told him that it was time for IKEA to open a store in Denmark. And this was exactly what happened. On March 13th 1969 IKEA opened in Copenhagen, with Ken Muff Lassen as the dynamic CEO, and a Swedish CFO, Bengt Nordquist.

IKEA in Denmark became a prodigious success. It was an experimental warehouse in a period where the foundation of the European expansion was planned. New ways of sales and communication were tested and constant improvements were implemented. In 1973 Ingvar Kamprad moved to Denmark and with Inter IKEA the international headquarter of the IKEA Group was established in Humlebaek.

During the oil crisis in 1973 IKEA started planning a new 42,000 m2 warehouse with a grand opening on May 1st 1975. Site and buildings were prepaid by startup with profits from the operation in the first store.

Besides the responsibility of operations of IKEA Denmark, Ken Muff Lassen was soon engaged in IKEA’s general R&D, and sparring partner with Ingvar Kamprad about IKEAs global opportunities of changing the world. In the autumn of 1976 Ken Muff Lassen passed on the leadership of IKEA Denmark to Thomas Brandt.

Ken Muff Lassen was member of the executive board of Inter IKEA for 11 years, with R&D and concept policies as main responsibilities. Additionally Ken was involved as initiator on large improvement projects within IKEA. Ken left IKEA in 1987. His last big project, was completed with the establishment of the “The IKEA Way” University. Documentation of the entire IKEA history and establishing written policies and standards led to disagreements
with Ingvar Kamprad.

Ken Muff Lassen founded the company IDEAS Denmark A/S in 1991.

THE STORY OF OUR FOUNDER

After school Ken Muff Lassen (b. 1939) started a 3-years apprenticeship at Hindsgaul Mannequins.

When military service was completed in 1960, at the age of 21, Ken was hired by Hagen International as Export Sales Manager of Danish furniture to American oil expatriates in the Middle East.

During sales trips, the idea of having one united sales organization representing a number of furniture factories was born. This lead in 1962 to Domus Danica, as a joint sales organization representing 7 furniture factories with Ken Muff Lassen and the 7 factories as equal shareholders.

Domus Danica opened showrooms in Copenhagen and was very successful from the beginning of the adventurous 60s, when the demand for Danish furniture design exploded.

The young entrepreneurial manager, Ken Muff Lassen, was admitted into the group around the influential and international magazine “Mobilia”. A fantastic network was built, that generously shared their knowledge with the young furniture man. Panton, Dietzel, PH, Cadovius, Aagaard Andersen, Halling Koch and Sven Erik Møller from Politiken, who later became copywriter of the Danish IKEA catalogues.

At the very first furniture exhibition in Bella Center in 1965, Domus Danica presented a worldwide sensation with the new Ureform injection molded furniture. This was where Ken Muff Lassen met the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, for the first time.

Domus Danica’s 7 factories developed very differently. Some experienced tremendous growth and others stagnation, which created an imbalance. Also generational changes in 4 of the 7 factories resulted in too much talking and too few new adventures. Ken Muff Lassen therefore sold his share and left Domus Danica on July 31st 1967.

The next day he called Ingvar Kamprad and told him that it was time for IKEA to open a store in Denmark. And this was exactly what happened. On March 13th 1969 IKEA opened in Copenhagen, with Ken Muff Lassen as the dynamic CEO, and a Swedish CFO, Bengt Nordquist.

IKEA in Denmark became a prodigious success. It was an experimental warehouse in a period where the foundation of the European expansion was planned. New ways of sales and communication were tested and constant improvements were implemented. In 1973 Ingvar Kamprad moved to Denmark and with Inter IKEA the international headquarter of the IKEA Group was established in Humlebaek.

During the oil crisis in 1973 IKEA started planning a new 42,000 m2 warehouse with a grand opening on May 1st 1975. Site and buildings were prepaid by startup with profits from the operation in the first store.

Besides the responsibility of operations of IKEA Denmark, Ken Muff Lassen was soon engaged in IKEA’s general R&D, and sparring partner with Ingvar Kamprad about IKEAs global opportunities of changing the world. In the autumn of 1976 Ken Muff Lassen passed on the leadership of IKEA Denmark to Thomas Brandt.

Ken Muff Lassen was member of the executive board of Inter IKEA for 11 years, with R&D and concept policies as main responsibilities. Additionally Ken was involved as initiator on large improvement projects within IKEA. Ken left IKEA in 1987. His last big project, was completed with the establishment of the “The IKEA Way” University. Documentation of the entire IKEA history and establishing written policies and standards led to disagreements
with Ingvar Kamprad.

Ken Muff Lassen founded the company IDEAS Denmark A/S in 1991.