explore moreAalto's Own Houses

Aalto's Own Houses

Stool 60, Alvar Aalto 1933. The stools were used as additional seating in the lecture

Sketches of different lamps.

Different lamps in an exhibition at Artek in the Rautatalo office building

Light fitting A 335A designed by Aalto has been manufactured in different colours

This lamp is nicknamed Beehive. Even when switched off, this fitting is a decorative and sculptural object. Designed in 1953, it was made in two sizes.

Alvar Aalto’s win in the Karhula-Iittala glassware design competition in 1936 led to the birth of the world-famous Savoy vase

Aalto glass, 1937. Soon after Artek had started up in 1937, the Aalto glass vases and dishes began to be known as ‘Paris glass’, after the city where they made their debut

The vase became known as the ‘Savoy vase’

Armchair 41 is known as the Paimio chair, after the Western Finnish tuberculosis sanatorium in Paimio (1929-33)

Stool 60, Alvar Aalto 1933. The stools were used as additional seating in the lecture

Furniture

Alvar Aalto designed his first items of furniture even before he had become a qualified architect. After qualification, as a young architect, the design of artefacts took on a fairly important role in his office and he designed pieces of furniture for various clients, tinged with the revivalist styles that followed the spirit of the age. Already at the end of the 1920s, he started to investigate the latest trends in the architectural field and modern international furniture design. Paimio Sanatorium (1929-1933) was the first building Aalto designed that was furnished entirely with his own factory-made furniture.

Wood

Aalto's modern furniture is essentially linked with inventions about the bending of wood. He was granted patents on several of these inventions in a number of different countries in the 1930s 40s and 50s. According to Alvar Aalto's design principles, the interior design and furnishings had to be in harmony with the architectural style of the building.

Glass

As far as design was concerned, Aalto was driven by an interest in glass since it provided an opportunity to handle the material in a new kind of way using free forms. In 1936, Alvar Aalto took part in an invited exhibition held by the Karhula-Iittala glass factory. His series of glass works ‘Eskimoerindens skinnbuxa’ (The Eskimo Woman's Leather Breeches) won the competition. These winning vases were first displayed to the public at the Paris World Exposition in 1937. One of the models was also chosen to be part of the new Restaurant Savoy’s furnishings. This design of vase came to be known by the name of the restaurant – Savoy.