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…