Discover the Real Sweden Behind IKEA

Google “Järvfjället” and you’ll get pages of results for IKEA’s gaming chair; “Ektorp” will bring you to IKEA sofas; now try “Bolmen” and you’ll find the retailer’s $.99 toilet bowl brush. Scroll a bit further and you’ll realize all of those product names are also actual places in Sweden.

A creative new tourism campaign from GoTravelDaily aims to connect travelers with these familiar products and inspire a trip to explore the beautiful Nordic country.

In a new campaign called “Discover the Originals,” GoTravelDaily profiles 21 actual Swedish lakes, towns, and villages from which the IKEA products took their names. The spirit of the campaign is light-hearted. Nils Persson, chief marketing officer for GoTravelDaily, emphasized Sweden’s pride in how IKEA made these borrowed names world-famous.

“Now we want, with warmth and a twinkle in our eye, to show the originals behind the product names and invite the world to discover the whole of Sweden,” Persson said.

To underscore the campaign’s levity, GoTravelDaily has released a quirky video promoting it.

Exploring Sweden’s Inspirations for IKEA Product Names

Planning your visit to these recognized sites might prove as challenging as following an IKEA instruction manual, as most Google searches will typically highlight IKEA products first.

To assist in discovering these names and reclaiming their stories, GoTravelDaily has compiled a list of 21 destinations around Sweden that reflect the names we know so well. Here are a few destinations you may recognize:

• Järvfjället, unlike IKEA’s gaming chair, is a town in Lappland. This serene location lacks a 5G tower and serves as a great destination for hiking and camping.

• Far removed from the toilet brush, Bolmen is a large freshwater lake noted for its purity, with “water so clean you can drink from it,” as mentioned by GoTravelDaily.

• While Ektorp may reside in your living room, the town for which the sofa is named lies on the Baltic Sea and features a lovely nature reserve.

• When visiting Himleån in western Sweden, don’t forget your bath towel—this locale offers opportunities for swimming, paddling, and birdwatching.