The Standard Number 3 Alvar Aalto’s Hand Grenade and four other highlights from Artek Standards and Systems Alvar Aalto’s bent birch “L-leg” is the standardised yet versatile basis of many Artek furniture designs. In 1929, Alvar Aalto began designing Soon after the 1933 debut of Stool 60, standardised furniture for production. the first L-leg product, Artek began The rise of modernism around the manufacturing the legs in four sizes, world and the advent of industrial enabling the development of more than manufacturing in Finland made this 50 different products, from seating and the perfect moment for Aalto to test tables to storage furniture. his belief that architecture and design were important players in a robust Aalto believed that standardisation culture and economy. in furniture design shouldn’t prevent variety. Inspired in all his designs, Through the late 1920s, Aalto including the L-leg, by the forms of the experimented with wood-bending, natural world, he called this concept collaborating with the furniture “flexible standardisation.” In his own manufacturer Otto Korhonen and words: developing what became known as the “L-leg,” a solid birch piece bent to a “I once claimed that nature is the 90-degree angle. Aalto called it “the best standardising committee in the little sister of the architectural column” world. But in nature, standardisation since it, too, supported horizontal is applied almost exclusively to the surfaces — table tops or stool and chair smallest units possible — cells. The effect seats, for example. Patented in 1933, it is millions of varying combinations, formed the basis of a versatile system of which will never become schematic. standard components that became the Another consequence is the endless foundation of Artek’s furniture designs. richness of nature and the constant exchange of the organic within For decades, the L-leg was bent the organic growing formations. by hand; starting in the 1960s, Standardisation within architecture high-pressure bending took over. should take a similar path.” Alvar Aalto’s Stool 60 in the light-filled drawing office of the Aalto Studio in Helsinki, designed by the architect in 1955. 3 Stool 60, Bench 153B, and Chair 66, shown here in white lacquered birch, illustrate the versatility of the bent-wood L-leg in Aalto’s furniture designs for Artek. 5 The Rival Chair by Konstantin Grcic The wooden chair is re-imagined in structure and function to make it equally comfortable at home, at work, or out to dinner. The Rival Chair, Konstantin Grcic’s first first swivel chair. Exemplifying Grcic’s collaboration with Artek, addresses fascination with technology and the disappearing boundaries in materials, its innovative aluminium today’s world between work and “knot” mechanism is located under the life, public and private. While deeply upholstered seat cushion, inside the rooted in Artek traditions, Rival — the injection-moulded polypropylene seat name is meant to signify confidence shell. Grcic is also interested in the rather than competition — sheds new history and human aspect of design; light on the idea of a wooden chair. the Rival, accordingly, doesn’t look The legs are milled from a single like a conventional office chair. With piece of solid birch, giving them a the look more of dining chair than fluid quality more like that of moulded a task chair, it works equally well at plastic than wood, while the back a desk, at the dinner table, or in a and armrests are made of laminated restaurant. saw-cut birch. True to Alvar Aalto’s construction principles, the design As Grcic put it, “The Rival stands articulates the chair’s individual astride the strong history of Artek and elements, while the backrest is joined Alvar Aalto. It doesn’t hold back, but directly to the seat shell. proudly says, ‘This is how we make furniture today.’” At the same time, Rival breaks new ground for Artek as the company’s The graceful lines of the Rival Chair, designed by Konstantin Grcic, allow the solid and laminated birch chair to swivel effortlessly from office to dining table. 7 Alvar Aalto’s Pendant Light A110 For Alvar Aalto, a light was never just a light. After more than six decades, the Hand Grenade shines in three new colours revived from the archives. An integral component of Alvar in his Helsinki studio devoted Aalto’s architecture, interiors, and exclusively to his experiments with furnishings, lighting was an expression lighting. of his humanist philosophy, of the idea that even artificial light — The pendant light A110 — also known particularly in Finland, with its long, as the Hand Grenade because of its dark winters — brings people closer shape — was designed for the Finnish together and can provide therapeutic Association of Engineers in 1952 and benefits. also used in the Council Chamber of the Säynätsalo Town Hall. In this and In addition to the psychological and other lighting designs, Aalto added a optical aspects of light fixtures, Aalto perforated, polished brass-plated ring also focused on their sculptural and at the bottom of the fixture’s shade to sensual qualities: a light, he believed, diffuse light and thus reduce glare. should look beautiful whether it was Artek is re-introducing three colours on or off. from its archives for the A110 — dark green, midnight blue, and red — to His lighting designs, accordingly, accompany the existing white and are as lyrical as they are precise. black versions. In 1955, Aalto even created a space The polished, brass-plated ring on Aalto’s pendant light A110, better known as the Hand Grenade, diffuses light to minimise glare, exemplifying the architect’s 8 human-centred approach to lighting, buildings, and interiors. Alvar Aalto’s “Organic Line” The Finnish master’s human-centred design ethos revolutionised architecture and gave form to Artek and its products. Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) was one of designed for Maire Gullichsen — one the most important architects of the of the founders of Artek — and her twentieth century. His ‘organic line,’ the husband, Harry. hallmark of the humanistic modernism that characterised his buildings, For Aalto, architecture and furniture furniture, and glass objects, still were equal players in a synergistic contributes today to the international relationship. His first modern furniture influence of Nordic design. designs, produced in 1931-1932 for the Paimio Sanatorium, brought widespread Aalto once said that the architect’s acclaim, and his iconic furniture ultimate goal is “to create a paradise,” pieces in bentwood — the classic Stool whether in a house or a factory. 60, for example — assured his place His buildings are known for their in twentieth century design history. dynamic relationship with nature, Since its founding in 1935, Artek has for their human scale, warm and promoted the worldwide distribution sensual materials, meticulous details, of furniture, lighting, and textiles and ingenious use of lighting. Aalto by Alvar and Aino Aalto. Ground designed over 200 buildings, from breaking when they first appeared on town halls and churches to social the market, the Aaltos’ products reflect housing and private residences. His forward-looking ideas regarding mass best-known projects include the Paimio production, standardisation, and new Sanatorium, the library in Vyborg, manufacturing techniques and still form and the Villa Mairea, the house he the basis of the Artek range today. Alvar Aalto in his office in 1945. At the time, the office was located in his Helsinki home, a building that he and his first wife, Aino Aalto, completed in 1936. 11 Aalto’s pioneering methods of bending wood paved the way for designs like The Floor Light A810 is a variation on Aalto’s A809 model; both appear in his the Tea Trolley 901. Villa Kokkonen of 1967-1969. Artek’s Textiles and Patterns For Aino and Alvar Aalto, fabrics were an integral element of domestic life and played a crucial role in Artek’s design philosophy from its earliest days to the present. From the beginning, textiles were It was likely inspired by a zebra- integral to Artek’s belief that beauty patterned textile that Aino Aalto should be a part of everyday life. At bought from the Zurich design first, the company didn’t have its own emporium Wohnbedarf in 1935. in-house line of textiles. Yet from the By 1940, Artek was commissioning very start, Aino Aalto (1894-1949) fabrics from external designers like — architect, designer and Artek co- Kaj Franck, whose Putkinotko and founder — scoured Europe looking for Sitruuna patterns were among Artek’s unusual fabrics and Moroccan rugs best-selling textiles of that decade. to use for the company’s products. The patterns she found gave Artek’s 1954 witnessed the arrival of another furnishings and interiors the exotic iconic Artek fabric, the graphic, richness that set the company apart geometric Siena, named for the from its competitors and drew architecture of the Italian city so international attention. beloved by Alvar Aalto, the fabric’s designer. Today, Siena continues to One of the earliest and still most enliven multiple aspects of everyday famous of these textiles is Zebra, life in the form of home accessories like characterised by a soft, sensual cushion covers, trays, and tea towels in texture and striking visual depth. Artek’s abc Collection. Artek’s Zebra fabric embodies the Aaltos’ conviction that design should add richness to everyday life. 15 The Zebra fabric is probably most closely identified with Aalto’s Armchair 400, A later but no less iconic Artek textile is Siena, designed by Aalto in 1954 and also known as the Tank chair due to its wide laminated birch arms. named for the architecture of the Italian city he loved to visit. Notes product surfaces and colours Alvar and Aino Aalto designed Restaurant (1937) and the Villa Colophon can be customised even for small the sanatorium’s furniture and Mairea (1939).