Alvar Aalto, a pair of armchairs model "403", Artek, Finland, mid-20th century.
Blackened frame. Upholstered seat and back. Marked with the Helsinki city stamp. Seat height 40, width 54, height 78 cm.
Minor wear. Minor stains.
Juhani Pallasmaa, "Alvar Aalto Furniture", 1984, model illustrated pp. 207‑208.
Designed in 1932 for the Paimio Sanatorium.
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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