Information

Born in Kuortane, Finland in 1898, Alvar Aalto was a world renowned Finnish architect and furniture designer. He went to school in Helsinki to study architecture and graduated in 1921. Alvar started his career in Helsinki, which is the Finnish Capital, but the demand for his work was minimal. As a result he founded an office in a small town to continue his work, where he worked until he passed away in Helsinki in 1976.

His wife, Aino, was originally hired as his assistant. She was a young woman who designed glass and furniture. Later, they had two children. In the 1920's and 1930's, Alvar Aalto designed several well know landmarks in Finland. In the late 1940's, he taught at MIT. Some of his most well known furniture (finska möbler) includes a variety of table designs and lamps.

Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen as well as Nils-Gustav Hahl established a business to craft furnishings. Alvar came up with the design for many timeless Aalto furnishings which include tables, desks, occasional chairs, loungers, foot stools, arm chairs and kid's furnishings. Alvar styled his first light fixture when he was a pupil at the college of technology in Helsinki where he was awarded first place in a lighting contest in 1920. The surname Aalto is yet greatly recognized in the realm of light fixtures as he styled many various timeless lamp designs which are regarded as contemporary these days as when they were first introduced.

Before he even graduated, Alvar Aalto began designing his first furniture. Once in his new architecture office, he received a huge order to design furniture for six churches in Finland. He designed the well known Paimio Sanatorium in 1929. He also designed each piece of furniture in the structure, as well as the lamps. For each structure he designed, he also designed custom "Aalto tables" and other furniture for it.

At this time he started to patent his methods for bending wood and he was awarded several patents in many countries for this new form of laminated bent-plywood furniture. The Alvar Aalto 901 tea cart is famous for this bent wood construction along with various chairs and Aalto tables. Together with other famous designers such as Bruno Mathsson and Yngve Ekstrom, Aalto became renowned for this style of furniture design which contributed greatly to the concept of "Scandinavian Modern" design.

Alvar Aalto revolutionized the worlds of furniture design and architecture with the style he called "Organic Functionalism". He is known today as the Father of Modernism, and the Alvar Aalto Medal (created by the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Finnish Association of Architects) is awarded today to those who are deemed to have made important and creative contributions to the field of architecture. He and his wife are remembered jointly for their glassware designs, perhaps the most famous of which today is the Aalto Vase.

If you'd like a unique copy of this article for your website please visit http://www.contentspooling.net/public.php?id=164&a=2327.