ARTEK – ART & TECHNOLOGY FOREVER
In the month of March designFARM welcome three new brands on board. One of them being Artek, modernist masters of architecture and furniture design and founded by the prolific Alvar Aalto.
Artek was founded in 1935 in Helsinki, Finland, by the four young idealists Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen, and Nils-Gustav Hahl. They all believed in a grand synthesis of the arts and wanted to make a difference in architecture and design as well as in town planning. Their intention for Artek was “to sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of living by exhibitions and other educational means”. Ever since, Artek has brought timeless classics in the spirit of a human modernism to everyday life.
The Municipal Library in Vybork, Russia. Design Alvar Aalto, 1935.
At its core stand classics by Finnish masters Alvar Aalto, Ilmari Tapiovaara, Tapio Wirkkala, Eero Aarnio and Yrjö Kukkapuro. In addition, Artek presents contemporary products by leading international architects and designers such as Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Shigeru Ban, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, Harri Koskinen and Enzo Mari. This collection has grown from the original idea of standards and systems, as initiated by Alvar Aalto’s bent wood experiments in the 1930s. This standard and system thinking creates a versatile range of designs, which can be found in private homes, public areas, museums, schools, restaurants, hotels and offices.
New series “Kaari” designed by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, 2016.
Eighty years since its foundation, Artek is still recognized as one of the most innovative contributors to modern design, breaking new grounds at the intersection of design, architecture and art. Their products have been manufactured in the same factory just outside of Turku, Finland, since the 1930s. Solidly made of natural materials and impervious to fashion, a piece of Artek furniture gains value and beauty through everyday use and is often passed on from one generation to the next.
ALVAR AALTO
FINLAND (1898 – 1976)
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), one of the founders of Artek, was born in Kuortane, Finland. Alvar Aalto is recognized today as one of the great masters of modern architecture. During his long and prolific career, Aalto’s work embraced almost all key public institutions – town halls, theatres, churches, libraries and universities – as well as standardized housing and private homes.
Aalto’s architecture is distinctively Finnish. It is marked by a warm humanity and strong individuality. His buildings derive their special aesthetic character from their dynamic relationship with their natural surroundings, their human scale, superbly executed details, unique treatment of materials and ingenious use of lighting. Like all great art, however, Aalto’s architecture transcends national boundaries. His work is not the exclusive property of Finland: it forms a part of a common cultural heritage of European and worldwide significance.
Beauty is the harmony of purpose and form
– Alvar Aalto, 1928
Alvar Aalto began designing furnishings as a natural and important extension of his architectural thinking. His first modern piece of furniture was created in 1931-32 for the Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Paimio, which proved to be his international breakthrough. Artek was set up in 1935 to market and sell Alvar and Aino Aalto’s furniture, lamps and textiles, particularly on international markets where Artek focused its operations from the initial stages.
Through the innovations in form and line that were born in his furniture designs, Alvar Aalto’s name has also become important in the history of design. In fact, Aalto first achieved fame in Continental Europe as a furniture designer, and only later on as an architect. His contribution to furniture design was among his foremost achievements in its own right, and it sowed the seed from which many of his architectural ideas sprang forth. Alvar Aalto’s furniture and lighting pieces form the basis of the Artek range.
Artek is now available at designFARM.
See the entire range here.