An old engraving of knock-down seating furniture. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. Ready-to-assemble furniture (RTA), also known as ‘knock-down’ furniture (KD), ‘flat pack’ furniture, or kit furniture, is a form of furniture that requires self-assembly. The furniture is generally simple to assemble with basic tools such as screwdrivers. It can include ‘campaign furniture’, furniture made for travel, especially for military expeditions. Much modern furniture, such as Ingvar Kamprad’ IKEA range, is self-assembled.
An old engraving of knock-down seating furniture. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. Ready-to-assemble furniture (RTA), also known as ‘knock-down’ furniture (KD), ‘flat pack’ furniture, or kit furniture, is a form of furniture that requires self-assembly. The furniture is generally simple to assemble with basic tools such as screwdrivers. It can include ‘campaign furniture’, furniture made for travel, especially for military expeditions. In the late 1940s, the Australian designer Frederick Charles Ward founded a mail-order RTA furniture business. In 1953, the Ohio cabinetmaker Erie J. Sauder received the first patent for RTA furniture for a table that could be assembled without either hardware or glue – he called it ‘snap-together; furniture. In Sweden Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1943 as a mail-order sales business, but began to sell flat-pack furniture in 1956.
Size: 3182px × 4252px
Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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