Vintage Paimio Lounge Chair by Alvar Aalto for Artek
View Similar Items
Vintage Paimio Lounge Chair by Alvar Aalto for Artek
About the Item
- Creator:Alvar Aalto (Designer)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:ca. 1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Hadley, MA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU99971190224
Alvar Aalto
An architect and designer, Alvar Aalto deserves an immense share of the credit for bringing Scandinavian modernism to a prominent place in the global arena. In both his buildings and in his vintage furniture — which ranges from chairs, tables and lighting to table- and glassware — Aalto’s sensitivity to the natural world and to organic forms and materials tempered the hardness of rationalist design.
Relatively few Aalto buildings exist outside Finland. (Just four exist in the United States, and only one — the sinuous 1945 Baker House dormitory at M.I.T. — is easily visited.) International attention came to Aalto, whose surname translates to English as “wave,” primarily through his furnishings.
Instead of the tubular metal framing favored by the Bauhaus designers and Le Corbusier, Aalto insisted on wood. His aesthetic is best represented by the Paimio armchair, developed in 1930 as part of his overall design of a Finnish tuberculosis sanatorium. Comfortable, yet light enough to be easily moved by patients, the chair’s frame is composed of two laminated birch loops; the seat and back are formed from a single sheet of plywood that scrolls under at the headrest and beneath the knees, creating a sort of pillow effect. Aalto’s use of plywood had enormous influence on Charles and Ray Eames, Arne Jacobsen, Marcel Breuer and others who later came to the material.
Concerned with keeping up standards of quality in the production of his designs, Aalto formed the still-extant company Artek in 1935, along with his wife, Aino Aalto, whose glass designs were made by the firm. In the latter medium, in 1936 the Aaltos together created the iconic, undulating Savoy vase, so-called for the luxe Helsinki restaurant for which the piece was designed.
Artek also produced Aalto pendants and other lighting designs, many of which — such as the Angel’s Wing floor lamp and the Beehive pendant — incorporate a signature Aalto detail: shades made of concentric enameled-metal rings graduated down in diameter. The effect of the technique is essential Alvar Aalto: at once precise, simple, and somehow poetic.
Find a collection of vintage Alvar Aalto stools, vases, dining tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- Alvar Aalto, Paimio 41 Lounge chair, ArtekBy Huonekalu-Ja Rakennustyötedas Oy, Alvar Aalto, ArtekLocated in Helsinki, FIThe famous Paimio lounge chair model 41, designed by Alvar Aalto for the Paimion Parantola. Manufactured by Artek in the 1960s, stamped "Artek, Aal...Category
Vintage 1960s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBirch, Plywood
- Alvar Aalto, Padded Paimio 44 Lounge chair, Artek 1950sBy Huonekalu-Ja Rakennustyötedas Oy, Alvar Aalto, ArtekLocated in Helsinki, FIThe famous Paimio lounge chair model 41, designed by Alvar Aalto for the Paimio Sanitarium. Manufactured by Huonekalu-ja Rakennustyötehdas Oy in t...Category
Vintage 1950s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Paimio Chair by Alvar AaltoBy Alvar AaltoLocated in Long Island City, NYPaimio Chair by Alvar Aalto, an authentic edition, chair #41, designed in 1941 by Alvar Aalto for Artek of Finland. A tour de force in bent...Category
20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBentwood, Plywood
$10,350 - Birch Wingback Lounge Chair by Alvar Aalto for ArtekBy Alvar Aalto, ArtekLocated in Sagaponack, NYA rare and sculptural wingback lounge chair having a cantilevered laminated birch frame and retaining its original handstitched textured linen upholstery.Category
Vintage 1940s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBirch, Upholstery
- Alvar Aalto Paimio Chair 41By Alvar Aalto, ArtekLocated in Los Angeles, CAStunning Paimio armchair 41 by Alvar Alto for Artek, Finland, in natural birch wood with black bentwood seat with venting slots. The laminated birch frame is bent into a closed curve...Category
Vintage 1930s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsBirch
- Alvar Aalto Cantilevered Leather Lounge Chair for ArtekBy Alvar Aalto, ArtekLocated in Los Angeles, CAArtek’s Model 406 lounge chair designed by Alvar Aalto. The cantilevered frame is a bent birch wood that gives the seat a floating effect. The chair's seat and seatback is finished i...Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Birch
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
The Very Modern Love Story of Mid-Century Design Duo Alvar and Aino Aalto
A power couple before the term existed, the influential pair made work that still resonates today.
What Makes Scandinavian Modernism and Nordic Design So Irresistible?
Andrew Duncanson, founder of the Stockholm- and London-based gallery Modernity, weighs in on the masters of mid-century furniture and decorative arts.