Alvar Aalto: Second Nature

Armchair 41, designed by Alvar Aalto for his 1932 Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Paimio, Finland, is reproduced from Alvar Aalto: Second Nature, a featured title at our booth at Design Miami December 2-7. Vitra Design Museum Director Mateo Kries writes, "Aalto's furniture, vases and lighting [are] treated today as icons of modern design.... Their aesthetic is fascinatingly interwoven with that of Aalto's architectural works. The objects are shown to reflect forward-looking ideas regarding mass production, standardization and new manufacturing techniques, marking Aalto as a strategist and innovator with a crystal-clear intellect. For the production and distribution of his furniture, Aalto and several associates founded the company Artek in 1935, which quickly became a central address for the international avant-garde and—in Aalto's words—sought to cultivate 'mondial activities.' Today Artek would be described as a think tank, a transdisciplinary project combining furniture company, gallery, agency and research laboratory—in short, another tool Aalto could use to exert influence on a changing world."