The Adventures of Billy Bookcase
England, France, Spain.
Different dresscodes, different foods, different languages, different outlooks. But when it comes to furniture, Swedish superstore IKEA supplies the daily bread/baguette/tortilla.
In addition to providing flatpack furniture that even I can put together, they’ve somehow anthropomorphised household objects by giving them names like Nodd and Billy.
I’m sure I should be raging about globalisation eroding local culture or deriding the nonsense behind such shameless marketing but instead I smiled when I heard the news. It’s Billy Bookcase’s 30th birthday and he’s been awarded silvery banners, balloons and a special edition facelift.
Happy Birthday Billy (artist seen in his traditional self-deprecating shot, in the background.)
Right. Now I’m off to do lots of very serious and earnest stuff…





