Alvar Aalto
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a model nr 31 birch armchair by O.y Huonekalu-ja Rakennustyötehdas for Artek, Finland.
Laminated birch, burled wood to the seat part, stamped "17" (? blurred) underneath both legs, stamped (faintly) MADE IN FINLAND.
Lacquered, cracks to upper laminate layer.
Provenance
This model was model designed for the Paimio Sanatorium, Finland 1931.
Aalto was the first to design a "free-swinging" (without hind legs) chair made entirely of wood. Previously Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer had designed this type in tubular steel upholstered in leather or rattan.
Designer
Alvar Aalto is one of Finland's most prominent architects and designers and one of Scandinavia's biggest proponents of modern architecture and design. Several of the furniture and vases he designed are today considered iconic design classics, including the Savoy vases, the Beehive lamp, and Armchair, model '31'.Alvar Aalto is the most internationally famous Finnish architect and designer. Aalto was a great ambassador for Finnish design at a time when the Finnish people were thinking about how to present themselves to the rest of the world. He gave equal weight to form and function, and was inspired by the Finnish landscape. Aalto is one of the most important representatives of modern architecture and has created its own architecture direction, whose aesthetic effect is based on careful planning of the buildings in relation to the environment, a human dimension and good sense of material.
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