Niels Gammelgaard (b. 1944) is a Danish industrial designer and architect who became one of IKEA’s most influential collaborators, creating furniture classics that reached millions of homes worldwide.

Born in Copenhagen, Gammelgaard studied industrial design under Erik Herløw at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1970.

In 1969, he co-founded Box 25 Architects, and in 1978 established Pelikan Design with Lars Mathiesen.

His partnership with IKEA began in 1975 when he met founder Ingvar Kamprad. Challenged to design an affordable chair in steel and plastic, Gammelgaard created the FOLKE chair, launching a collaboration that would span three decades and produce over 50 designs. His breakthrough came in the early 1980s with the JÄRPEN chair (1982), which used thick metal wire to create affordable steel furniture, and the MOMENT sofa (1984)—the world’s first flatpack sofa, which graced the cover of the 1985 IKEA catalog.

Beyond IKEA, Gammelgaard has designed for Fritz Hansen, Magnus Olesen, Herman Miller, Cappellini, and Louis Poulsen. In 1996, he designed the interiors for Copenhagen’s city trains (S-tog).

His awards include the ID Prize (1980, 1996), Furniture Prize (1993), and Red Dot for High Design Quality (1996). In 2023, he received the Thorwald Bindesbøll Medal from the Royal Danish Academy for creating “furniture classics for the people.”

In 2024–2025, IKEA revived several Gammelgaard designs in their Nytillverkad vintage collection, confirming his enduring influence on democratic design.