Alvar Aalto, Paimio 41 Lounge Chair in Black and Birch, Artek 1960s

The famous Paimio lounge chair model 41, designed by Alvar Aalto for the Paimion Parantola. Manufactured by Artek in the 1960s, stamped “Artek, Aalto-Design”.

The Paimio sanatorium is a central birthplace of architecture, furniture design and innovation in Finland. It is also internationally known as one of the most famous and significant Finnish buildings designed by Alvar Aalto.

This chair is considered to be a masterpiece of design. It is very light in structure and was initially designed in 1929 in contrast to the heavy metal functionalist furnitures that were in fashion at that time. The Paimio Sanitarium made Alvar Aalto a world famous arcitecht, and the sanitarium furnitures that Aalto designed were the starting point for his world fame as a furniture and lighting fixtures designer as well.

Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) is a world famous architect and designer. He was well known for designing his own line of furniture and lighting for the numerous buildings that he designed worldwide. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles, glassware, sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, seeing painting and sculpture as branches of a tree that stem from architecture.

Aalto’s career from the 1920s-1970s is reflected in the styles of his work, ranging from Classicism to Modernism and to an organic style from the 1940s onwards. Aalto and his wife Aino were famous for not only designing the buildings, but the interior surfaces, furniture, lamps and even the glassware for those buildings. Aalto’s furniture designs are Scandinavian Modernism at its best, especially his technical innovations on the bent plywood furniture, which in turn had a great impact on Mid-Century Modernist furniture.

Aalto’s works are highly sought after and some fetch record prices in auctions and the design world. Of course his works are also widely collected and can be found in numerous private collections and famous museums.