Aino Aalto, An early 1930s 'B96' drawer unit for O.Y. Huonekalu-ja Rakennustyötehdas A.B. Finland.
Lacquered solid birch. Five drawers with a central lock, on the opposite side a bookcase with two fixed shelves. The keyhole cover is probably of bakelite. Stamped AALTO DESIGN MADE IN FINLAND 513/59. Width 38 cm, depth 69 cm, height c. 66 cm.
Wear and marks due to age and use. Damages. Later wheels. Some of the drawers are stiff and difficult to fit. Defected keyhole cover. Key missing.
Alvar Aalto, thence by descent in the family.
The drawer model was first exhibited at the Small Apartments Exhibition in 1930.
The furniture, lamps, and vases for sale are from the home of our parents Johanna and Yrjö Alanen. My mother, who was the daughter of Aino and Alvar Aalto, presumably brought some of the furniture with her when she got married and moved out of her childhood home in 1952.
The old chests of drawers were my parents' bedside tables throughout their lives. They were originally designed by Aino Aalto for the Helsinki Minimum Apartment Exhibition in 1930. I also remember that the cabinet designed in the 1940s was always part of their interior design. The two vases for sale are from the Aalto home on Riihitie and are part of Alvar Aalto's collection.
Aino and Alvar Aalto met Danish designer Poul Henningsen in Copenhagen in 1928 and became good friends. Henningsen's ceiling lights were chosen for the interior of the Lounais-Suomen Maalaistentalo (Southwest Finland Landbo House), which was completed the same year. The Aaltos also got a red ceiling lamp designed by Henningsen for their newly built apartment in the Maalaistentalo building. Aino Aalto described the PH lamps in an article about the Aalto residence in The Architect magazine published in 1929.
When the Aalto family moved in 1936 to their new home at Riihitie 20 in Helsinki, the red PH lamp was placed above the dining table. The red PH-light can be seen in the attached photograph taken by Aino during a family breakfast in 1941.
Heikki Aalto-Alanen (free translation)