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Today, popular furniture is often a combination of modernism and retro styles harking back to the 1930s. The Finnish designer Alvar Aalto, who lived from 1898 to 1976, strongly influenced modern furniture design. Although today’s furniture naturally counts a large number of inspirations, the designer’s contribution is indisputable. As he introduced a variety of new styles and ideas, Alvar Aalto left his mark in the world of furniture making. |
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The secret of the L
Alvar Aalto’s L-leg forming process is considered to be his most important gift to the world of furniture design. His new L-leg, which he developed in the early 1930s, solved the old problem of attaching vertical legs to a horizontal top. Previously, there were two solutions: cut holes in the top and glue the legs to the holes, or join the legs to the frame and attach the frame to the underside of the top of the piece of furniture. Aalto’s curved L-leg bent from a vertical position to a horizontal position so it could be attached with screws. The new technique therefore eliminated the need for complicated joinery, and even enabled formerly shape-marring joints to appear attractive. L-legs age well, keeping their shape for years, and furniture constructed using this method is often passed from generation to generation. Today, L-leg furniture is still popular, although few are aware that it was created by a Finnish designer. |
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Chairs galore
The designer also created three-legged stacking stools during the 1930s. First made industrially for the Viipuri City Library in Helsinki, Finland, these stools had a range of colours on top, including black, white, natural wood, blue, red, and yellow. The library itself contains one stool with a natural wood top, while the others are black. While Mr. Aalto did not invent the stool, he certainly helped to spread its appeal, and stools are still a stylish form of household furniture at the current time.
The Paimio Tuberculosis Sanatorium, which was designed by Mr. Aalto, who was an accomplished architect as well as a furniture designer, was stocked with Mr. Aalto’s innovative stacking armchairs between 1931 and 1932. These chairs were composed of a solid wooden frame and a seat and back made out of a single sheet of contoured, laminated plywood. Due to the design, the latter mentioned parts both seem to ride free within the frame of the chair. Laminated wood furniture later became one of Alvar Aalto’s trademarks. Household articles made of this material still have a wide appeal, and it cannot be denied that chairs with a seat and back all-in-one structure are a common sight. |
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Further experimentation
In 1947, Alvar Aalto began to experiment further with leg designs. He split the L-leg and turned the two sections so that they were placed in opposing 90 degree angles. This new style became the Y-leg. The fan leg was the product of cutting the original L-leg into five narrow wedge-shaped pieces and arranging them in a fan. Alvar Aalto’s willingness to experiment was admirable, and set the stage for later designers who followed in his footsteps. |
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A company to carry on his ideas
Alvar Aalto’s spirit of adventure has survived into the present day in the form of the company Artek. Formed in 1935 by the designer in cooperation with Harry and Maire Gullichsen and Nil Gusav Hahl, the enterprise is a successful Finnish furniture business with international contacts. The famous L-leg is evident in numerous pieces offered by the company, and the original L-leg stools have been continuously produced in various forms ever since the firm was founded. |
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History and Accolades
Born in Kuortone, Finland, Alvar Aalto studied at the Helsinki University of Technology from 1916 to 1921. He became a member of the Congrés Internationalux d’Architecture Moderne in 1928, and in 1929 Mr. Aalto established an experimental plywood workshop in Turku.
Alvar Aalto’s exciting designs have achieved international attention over the years. In commemoration of his birth a century previously, the famed New York City Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, exhibited 20 Aalto pieces in 1998. His ubiquitous L-leg birchwood stools were even available for tired museum goers to sit on. Aside from the MoMA, his work has been shown at various fairs, such as the Exhibition of Finnish Design at Fortnum and Mason in London in 1933 and the New York World Fair in 1939. An architect as well as a furniture designer, Alvar Aalto drew up the plans for the Haus der Kultur, or House of Culture, in Helsinki in the 1950s, and also worked on the Opera House in Essen, Germany, which was completed by Harold Dielman and Elissa Aalto after his death. |
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An ongoing presence
The Finnish designer once said that “Form is a mystery that defies description but brings people pleasure”. His words live on through the products constructed by Artek designers, and also in European furniture in general, which unquestionably shows Alvar Aalto’s influence. He was one of the great designers of the twentieth century, and his concepts are ever present in modern-day furniture. |
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© September 2010 - European Publications GmbH
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