DT reader LC writes of the new Hermelin crib from Ikea: "Too bad it wasn't available a year ago. But then I might not have painted my son's Gulliver crib orange (which is awesome)."
Don't worry, I've already asked for pictures.
Meanwhile, on to the Hermelin: The sheer Ikea-blueness of this solid birch crib helps cultivate brand awareness in your infant faster than a bale of Muppet-covered Pampers. Just make sure you have the 59-cent diaper bag to match, and your kid'll be pooping meatballs before he can crawl. The only mystery, then, is the one that haunts every Ikea product: where the hell'd they get the name?
The Hermelins turn out to be a family of Swedish nobles, the most illustrious of whom was a drunk, failed, lunatic, vagabond named Eric Axel, born in 1860. After a long life of no-goodery, his distraught relatives finally had him confined to an asylum where, beginning at age 58, he proceeded to translate 23 volumes--over 8,000 pages--of Persian literature into Swedish. By the time of his death in 1944, it was said that there was more great Persian literature available in Swedish than in any other European language.
In other words, the crib basically named itself. Next question?
Hermelin Crib, $119 [ikea.com]
Eric Hermelin [wikipedia]
also new at ikea - the Patrull Fast safety gate. not as nice as that diy baby gate you posted about a while ago, but still - a pretty nice, simple piece in the world of hideous plastic baby gates.
not to mention the unfortunate-looking Korall Anemon chair pad.
Damn, I'll buy this bed for that back-story alone!
I gotta say, unless you've got family working for Oeuf, Netto, etc. --- I can't see why anyone would not buy an IKEA crib.
hmm, my grandfather was Eric Axel and a Swede..lets hope this wasn't his namesake, as that was what we were going to name db if it was boy.
[looking at the geneaology file on familysearch.org, the guy's given name was actually Axel Eric, but he went by Eric -ed.]
I spotted these the other day, nice. Not sure why only available in blue though?
[we saw them last night. it's definitely in the IKEA Blue family. -ed.]
Haha, Hermelin is also the animal hermine. Interesting story though.