IKEA Stoja Desk Lamp

Materials: Round red pressed wood base. Yellow wood disc. 2 wooden rods. Blue wood triangle. White acrylic conical lampshade with a clear acrylic diffuser. White plastic E27 socket.

Height: 44 cm / 17.32”

Width: 30 cm / 11.81”

Base: ∅ 17,5 cm / 6.88”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14 – 1 x 40 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a small one is preferred.

Period: 1990s.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: IKEA, Delft, The Netherlands.

Other versions: The IKEA Stoja desk lamp also exists as a floor lamp, a wall lamp and a flush-mount version. The design is often associated with the Memphis style.

The Stoja lamp series is frequently attributed online to Ettore Sottsass. These claims are incorrect. According to IKEA, Sottsass did not design the Stoja lamps.

Two wall lamps from the Stoja series appear for the first time in the 1990 IKEA catalogue. The desk lamp version is documented in the 1991 catalogue.

IKEA

IKEA, originally an acronym for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, is a multinational group headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1943 in Älmhult, Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad (30 March 1926 – 27 January 2018), who was only seventeen years old at the time.

After several years of mail-order sales, IKEA opened its first full-scale store in Sweden in 1958. International expansion followed during the 1960s and 1970s, with the first stores opening in Norway (1963) and Denmark (1969). In 1973, IKEA entered new markets in Switzerland, Germany and Japan, marking the start of its rapid expansion across Europe and beyond.

In the Benelux, the first IKEA store opened in 1978 in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands. Belgian stores followed in 1984, with locations in Zaventem and Ternat. From the late 1970s onwards, IKEA became a familiar presence throughout Europe, combining large-scale retail with a strong focus on functional, affordable design.

Alongside its in-house design teams, IKEA has collaborated over the years with a number of well-known designers and studios, mainly for furniture and limited collections. These collaborations helped introduce contemporary design ideas to a broad audience, while remaining compatible with mass production. Designers who have worked with IKEA include, among others, Verner Panton, Tapio Wirkkala, Gillis Lundgren, Knut and Marianne Hagberg, Karin Mobring, Noboru Nakamura, Sarah Fager, Ehlén Johansson, Sabine Marcelis, Hanna Klarqvist, Tatsuo Konno, Carl Öjerstam, Magnus Elebäck, Hella Jongerius, Bent Gantzel-Boysen, Uno Dhalén, Ilse Crawford, Piet Hein Eek, Tom Dixon, and Virgil Abloh.

It should be noted that IKEA products are frequently misattributed online to famous designers. Claims that certain IKEA lamps or furniture were designed by Ettore Sottsass or his studio are incorrect and not supported by IKEA or catalogue documentation.