ALVAR AALTO
Born in Jyväskylä in 1898 and died in Helsinki in 1976. Alvar Aalto is one of the important figures of modern architecture and is the best-known Finnish architect abroad. His work ranges from area plans to designs for individual buildings and furnishings. He created organic buildings that combined different materials, were fragmen-ted or incorporated curves. In collaboration with his wife Aino Marsio-Aalto, he worked in the fields of interior design and furnish-ings. In this period he began to produce pieces, like the stool with three legs, that were remarkably modest but meticulously finished. Aalto's contribution to the standardised construction and socially oriented architectural planning of the modern movement was important for the development of Finnish architecture and society.
Although his early work borrowed from the neoclassic movement, he eventually adapted the symbolism and functionalism of the Modern Movement to generate his plans and forms. Aalto's mature work embodies a unique functionalist/expressionist and humane style, successfully applied to libraries, civic centers, churches, housing, etc.
A synthesis of rational with intuitive design principles allowed Aalto to create a long series of functional yet non-reductionist buildings. Alvar Aalto generated a style of functionalism which avoided romantic excess and neoclassical monotony. Although Aalto borrowed from the International Style, he utilized texture, color, and structure in creative new ways. He refined the generic examples of modern architecture that existed in most of Europe and recreated them into a new Finnish architecture. Aalto's designs were particularly significant because of their response to site, material and form.
Aalto generated a large body of work in Germany, America, and Sweden. Often at work on multiple projects, he tended to intermingle ideas and details within his work. The spectrum of Aalto's work exhibits a sensual detailing that separates him from most of his contemporaries.
Aalto was a master of form and planning, as well as of details that relate a building successfully to its users. His buildings have provided renewed inspiration in the face of widespread disillusionment with high modernism on one hand, and post-modernism on the other.
Aalto died in Helsinki in May 1976.
His works:
STOOL 60 - Birch, natural lacquered or honey-birch. Three legs. Seat options: birch veneer, linoleum, laminate, upholstered or special edition curly-birch
FLOOR LAMP A810 - White painted metal lampshade. Base and stand covered with black leather. Upper part polished brass
The Savoy Vase, also known as the Aalto Vase.
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