Stool 60, designed 1933
Hugo Alvar Henrick Aalto, 1898–1976.
Architect and furniture designer Alvar Aalto was born in the small parish of Kuortane in western Finland on the 3rd of February 1898, 112 years ago today. The Humanism and elegance of his design is illustrated here, in his bent ply ‘stool 60’ designed in 1933. An exhibition organised by the Architectural Review and held at Fortnum & Masons, Piccadilly in London in 1933, generated wide coverage of his work. Finmar was set up in London as an import company to meet the huge demand for his furniture generated by the exhibition, the success led to orders pouring into the small Finnish factory in Turku, and Finmar were unable to obtain enough furniture to fulfill the orders. Aalto dealt with the situation by taking an extended fishing break to Lapland. The story would have ended there, were it not for the efforts of his friends in London, who set up Artek Ltd in Helsinki to manufacture Aalto’s designs on a larger scale. His achievements as an architect are vast and there were many more designs, both in furniture and glassware, however, it is this simple bent knee stool that, for me, best describes his furniture for the people.
Homespunvintagetelegram's Blog 