Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto was a finish architect and furniture designer, his most important collaborator was his wife Aino Moriso. She died particularly in directing the Artek Company, a company which sold most of Aalto’s designs. He was one of the first expressions of Scandinavian modernism. He designed furniture and made the most out of plywood as a malleable and cheap material for seating.

He spent 5 years bending wood with his wife, this research led to his revolutionary chair designs. Laminated wood and plywood were his choice of materials, he then began to investigate veneer bonding and the limits of moulding plywood with Otto Korhonen. These experiments helped him design his innovative chairs no 41 and the cantilevered no 31

no41

no31

Aalto was one of the most famous designers in this century one of his most successful designs was the l – legged stacking stools’.

He believed that connecting vertical and horizontal elements was solving his old aged problem. Aalto’s designs were characterized as organic design because of their forms, for example his famous Savoy vase which was inspired by the fjord shorelines of his native Finland.

Savoy vase

Flower 'set' of vases

 He refused using material such as tubular metal in his furniture. His designs were very influential to the post war designers such as Ray and Charles Eames.

Aalto's influences on other designers:

Chairs designed by Eames and Saarinen

The Panton chair designed by Panton. 

Through my research I've found this chair concept which looked very organic to me because of its form/shape, curviness and smoothness. even though the design has tubular metal it still looks like it was inspired by Aalto's designs and organic style.

Thames & Hudson, T&H, 2004. design since 1900. 2nd ed. singapore: C.C Graphics.

Fiell, C & P F, 1999. design of the 20th century. 2nd ed. china: ISBN.

furniture design spotlight. 2011. hug chair. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2008/10/16/hug-armchair/. [Accessed 06 December 13].

red dot online. 2013. exhibition: alvar aalto in helsinki. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.red-dot.org/830.html. [Accessed 06 December 13].