The history of Rea wheelchairs starts with humble beginnings worthy of a storybook. In the 1950's, a cabinet-maker called Ragnar Sandström lived in the small town of Diö in southern Sweden. Ragnar worked for a furniture company, Gemla Möbler, where, among other things, they made wooden wheelchairs.

Visionary and creative, Ragnar had many ideas and tried to persuade company management to invest in what he saw as the material of the modern age - steel tubing. Faced with disinterest and resistance, Ragnar began crafting pieces of furniture out of steel tubing from his garage at home.