Artek Beehive
Vintage 1950s Finnish Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Aluminum, Steel
Vintage 1950s Finnish Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Aluminum, Steel
20th Century Books
Paper
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and...
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights an...
Enamel, Brass
2010s South African Minimalist Pedestals
Hardwood
2010s American Modern Dining Room Chairs
Bouclé, Oak
2010s Mexican Brutalist Contemporary Art
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights an...
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Aluminum
2010s Italian Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Murano Glass
2010s Austrian Jugendstil Chandeliers and Pendants
Silk
21st Century and Contemporary Mexican Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Textile, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Anglo-Japanese Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1950s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Dining Room Tables
Birch
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Travertine
Vintage 1930s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Birch
Vintage 1960s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Stools
Birch
Recent Sales
21st Century and Contemporary Finnish Scandinavian Modern Chandeliers an...
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Finnish Scandinavian Modern Chandeliers an...
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century Finnish Scandinavian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Mid-20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal, Aluminum, Brass
Mid-20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal, Brass, Aluminum
Vintage 1930s Finnish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Birch
Vintage 1950s Finnish Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Vintage 1930s Finnish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Birch
Vintage 1950s Finnish Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Aluminum, Steel
Alvar Aalto for sale on 1stDibs
An architect and designer, Alvar Aalto deserves an immense share of the credit for bringing Scandinavian modernism and Nordic design to a prominent place in the global arena. In both his buildings and his vintage furniture — which ranges from chairs, stools, 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 with his wife, Aino Aalto, in 1930 as part of the overall design of a Finnish tuberculosis sanatorium.
Comfortable, yet light enough to be easily moved by patients, the Paimio 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 the headrest and beneath the knees, creating a sort of pillow effect. Aalto’s use of plywood had an 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 Aino, 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.