Pair of Eero Aarnio Cane Stools with Green Seat Pads, Finland, 1960s
View Similar Items
Pair of Eero Aarnio Cane Stools with Green Seat Pads, Finland, 1960s
About the Item
- Creator:Eero Aarnio (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 11.42 in (29 cm)Diameter: 19.69 in (50 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Maastricht, NL
- Reference Number:Seller: Cb.bb.AarnioLow.m.1504ab1stDibs: LU93042236792
Eero Aarnio
“I always look ahead, never back,” Finnish design legend Eero Aarnio has been quoted as saying. A leading innovator of modern furniture design, Aarnio has long embraced a bold, playful, confident and colorful style several steps ahead of his time.
For his 1954 entrance test for the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, Aarnio created a whimsical painting of a man reading a newspaper in a red, curved chair whose silhouette foreshadowed Aarnio’s Ball chair of 1963. That spherical seat skyrocketed him to design fame, and decades later, it is still recognized as one of the world’s most futuristic designs.
Born in 1932 to a house painter and a seamstress, Aarnio has always had a cheerful disposition and an independent spirit. He went his own way early on: After just two years at Asko, the big Scandinavian furniture company that originally produced his Ball chair, Aarnio established his own studio in 1962.
Over the next decade, the young visionary made an indelible mark on the world. Open-minded and entrepreneurial, Aarnio embraced the aesthetics, materials and technologies of the Swinging Sixties, working with a new generation of plastics and molding them into fluid, organically shaped, brightly hued forms.
Introduced at the 1966 Cologne Furniture Fair, the pod-like fiberglass Ball chair soon adorned the homes of movie stars and royalty, graced magazine covers around the world and was featured in films and ads. The groundbreaking seat originally came in orange, white, black, yellow and red and could be ordered with a telephone installed in it. Yet this designer of the future, as he was known in the 1960s, has always insisted that he didn’t deliberately seek to be associated with the decade’s sci-fi aesthetic.
“I had no intention to create either pop or Space Age design — as many people label my work,” Aarnio declares in one of the essays included in Eero Aarnio — Designer of Colour and Joy, a book jointly created by the Design Museum and publisher WSOY to accompany 2016’s “Eero Aarnio” exhibition.
The show featured a number of Aarnio’s objects, including his iconic Ball, Pastil (1967), Bubble (1968), Tomato (1971) and Pony (1973) chairs. These were joined by lesser-known seating and other objects like the rattan Juttujakkara, or mushroom, stool (1960); the sculptural Double Bubble lamp (2000), with which Aarnio first explored the possibilities of rotation-cast plastic; and the three-legged Rocket (1995) and Baby Rocket (2006) stools, both parts of a collection produced by Artek after Tom Dixon, the company’s creative director from 2004 to 2009, discovered the original piece in Aarnio’s kitchen.
“Aarnio expanded the whole idea of what constitutes furniture,” explained Suvi Saloniemi, the Design Museum’s chief curator. “His significance as a designer is crystallized in the liberation of form that he has introduced by discovering the properties of plastic as the material of a designer. His furniture is sculpture-like and eye-catching, but the pieces are always utilitarian at the same time.”
Find an extraordinary range of vintage Eero Aarnio chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- Vintage Eero Aarnio Juttu Wicker & Bamboo Mushroom Stool Artek Finland 1960sBy Eero AarnioLocated in Troy, MIAn original vintage Juttu stool designed by Eero Aarnio for Artek Finland circa 1961 Mushroom form stool in woven rattan around an interior bamboo frame ...Category
Vintage 1960s Finnish Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsBamboo, Wicker
- Brazilian Modern Brutalist Pair of Stools, Brazil, 1960sLocated in Antwerp, BEBrazilian modern, Brutalist, brown leather and Caviuna pair of stools in a Brutalist 1960s Bohemien chic. Measures: L 73 cm, D 73 cm, SH 36 cm.Category
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Brutalist Ottomans and Poufs
MaterialsLeather, Teak
- Italian Mid Century Pair of Green Fabric and Wooden Legs Poufs or Stools, 1960sLocated in MIlano, ITItalian Mid-Century Modern pair of green fabric and wooden legs poufs or stools, 1960s. Pair of poufs, of northern European origin, with wooden legs and rectangular upholstered seat...Category
Vintage 1960s Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern Ottomans and Poufs
MaterialsFabric, Wood
- Pair of Pine Stool Attributed to Charlotte Perriand, France, 1960sBy Charlotte PerriandLocated in SAINT-OUEN, FRCarved solid pinewood pair of stools design style Les Arcs attributed to Charlotte Perriand. Famous design like Pierre Jeanneret, Chandigarh, Le Corbusier, Jean Prouvé.Category
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsWood, Pine
- Ilmari Tapiovaara Cast Iron and Oak Stools, Finland 1960'sBy Ilmari TapiovaaraLocated in New York, NYFantastic pair of cast iron and oak stools, the bases are solid iron with a dimpled motif while the top are solid oak, the design bears similarity to a Perriand model for Les Arcs.Category
Mid-20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsIron
- Pair of Mid Century Hollywood Regency Stools or Ottomans, USA, Circa 1960sBy Maison JansenLocated in Miami, FLPair of Hollywood regency midcentury stools rendered in aluminum pipe bound with aluminum rope and vinyl seat, distressed original condition. Can be reupholstered or painted as desir...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsAluminum
$750 Sale Price75% Off
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
The Ball Chair, Eero Aarnio’s Space Age Masterpiece, Was Almost Never Made
Now considered emblematic of 1960s mod aesthetics, the Finnish designer's famous creation was far from an overnight success.