Ikea has just added a new addition to its iconic Billy bookcase family, and this one is bound to catch the eye of anyone with a taste for bright, modern design.
The Billy is now available in a vivid shade of blue — a color that feels less like a stretch and more like a natural homecoming for one of the most recognizable pieces of furniture ever made.
A shelving icon
Few pieces of furniture have had as much cultural staying power as the Billy bookcase. Designed in 1979 by Gillis Lundgren — the fourth employee ever hired by Ikea — the Billy was sketched out on the back of a napkin with a singular focus on functionality, flexibility, and timelessness.
Lundgren even named it after a colleague, Billy Liljedahl, an Ikea advertising manager who had lobbied for a proper bookcase to be added to the company’s lineup.
Declaring his work a success would be a massive understatement. Ikea estimated back in 2023 that one Billy bookcase is sold every five seconds, and that the company had moved over 140 million units worldwide — a number that puts it among the best-selling pieces of furniture in history.
This new blue colorway is the latest shade in a long line of unique colors that have woven in and out of the Billy product line over the years, made all the more special by its close resemblance to the Ikea blue that’s so core to the brand’s identity today, even if the original Ikea logo looked far different.
