Bodrul Khalique

Bodrul Khalique was a British designer and a graduate of Ravensbourne College in London. While still a student he won a design competition whose prize was a six-month contract with IKEA in Sweden. The contract was extended, and Khalique spent at least two years in Sweden, completing a Masters at HDK in Gothenburg along the way.

His best-known IKEA work is the SPÖKA range of children’s night lights. In the IKEA Museum catalogue corpus his name appears on storage furniture pages from 2004 to 2008, including the HOPEN and KOMPLEMENT systems. On the secondary market, though, his most sought-after piece is the black dancer sculpture: an elongated, organic ballerina figure in black-painted metal, sold by IKEA in the early 2000s. The Bukowskis auction house dates it to 2001.

After his IKEA years Khalique designed for retail companies as a design consultant. He died young; Ravensbourne College established a student design competition in his name.