Stool 60, honey stained birch – Artek
Stool 60, designed by Alvar Aalto in 1933, is the world's most copied design classic. To celebrate it, Artek has created several versions.
€295.00
245.83 tax excl.
Description
The Stool 60 can be used as a stool, of course, but also as an occasional table, bedside table or sofa end.
In all cases, its presence adds a touch of simplicity, intelligence and cheerfulness.
Designer
Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) was a Finnish architect, draughtsman, urban planner and designer, a proponent of functionalism and organic architecture. Many of his buildings blend harmoniously into the landscape, with which they form an architectural whole.
From an early age, this son of a surveyor showed an interest in, and disposition for, the decorative arts. He created everyday objects such as the famous Aalto vase, and furniture in laminated and bent wood.
Nevertheless, it was as an architect that Aalto first made his mark on the international scene. In 1929, he designed the Turun Sanomat newspaper building in Turku (his first functionalist building), and two years later participated in the design of Turku's 700th anniversary exhibition, his first complete project in the modern style to be presented to the Scandinavian public.
This remarkable debut was followed by numerous widely acclaimed architectural achievements, including the Viipuri (now Vyborg in Russia) library (1927-1935), the Paimio sanatorium (1929-1933) and the Finnish pavilion for the 1937 Paris and 1939 New York World Fairs.
Unlike his modernist contemporaries in Germany and Italy, who advocated the use of industrial materials such as steel and glass, Aalto made plywood his material of choice. From 1929, he began studying veneering techniques and explored the limits of molded plywood with Otto Korhonen, technical director of a furniture factory in the Turku region.
These experiments led to his most technically innovative chairs, such as the Paimio 41 (1931-1932). This functional yet seductive design immediately signalled to the international avant-garde the new direction opened up by the use of plywood, and the emergence of a vocabulary of softer, warmer shapes.
In 1935, the Aalto couple founded the Artek company. Their wood-bending technique made it possible, for the first time, to anchor the legs directly under the seat without the need for any additional frame or structure. This original technique gave rise to the L-leg (1932-1933), Y-leg (1946-1947) and fan-leg (1954) chair series.
From an early age, this son of a surveyor showed an interest in, and disposition for, the decorative arts. He created everyday objects such as the famous Aalto vase, and furniture in laminated and bent wood.
Nevertheless, it was as an architect that Aalto first made his mark on the international scene. In 1929, he designed the Turun Sanomat newspaper building in Turku (his first functionalist building), and two years later participated in the design of Turku's 700th anniversary exhibition, his first complete project in the modern style to be presented to the Scandinavian public.
This remarkable debut was followed by numerous widely acclaimed architectural achievements, including the Viipuri (now Vyborg in Russia) library (1927-1935), the Paimio sanatorium (1929-1933) and the Finnish pavilion for the 1937 Paris and 1939 New York World Fairs.
Unlike his modernist contemporaries in Germany and Italy, who advocated the use of industrial materials such as steel and glass, Aalto made plywood his material of choice. From 1929, he began studying veneering techniques and explored the limits of molded plywood with Otto Korhonen, technical director of a furniture factory in the Turku region.
These experiments led to his most technically innovative chairs, such as the Paimio 41 (1931-1932). This functional yet seductive design immediately signalled to the international avant-garde the new direction opened up by the use of plywood, and the emergence of a vocabulary of softer, warmer shapes.
In 1935, the Aalto couple founded the Artek company. Their wood-bending technique made it possible, for the first time, to anchor the legs directly under the seat without the need for any additional frame or structure. This original technique gave rise to the L-leg (1932-1933), Y-leg (1946-1947) and fan-leg (1954) chair series.
Aalto also worked independently with Riihimäki (1933) and Iittala (1936) glass. Like his furniture and architecture, his glass creations are characterized by their organic forms. The Savoy vase from 1936 has become a classic. Its sinuous shape could also be an allusion to its name, which means “wave” in Finnish. Whatever the case, the rhythmic, asymmetrical lines of the Savoy express the quintessence of nature and herald the fluid forms that were to become the hallmark of post-war Scandinavian design.
A firm believer in the humanizing vocation of design, Aalto rejected not only rigid geometric forms, but also metal tubes and other artificial materials, which he considered too far removed from nature. His work was particularly well received in Great Britain and the USA in the 1930s and 1940s. His ideas as the “founding father of organic design” greatly influenced post-war designers such as Charles Eames and Ray Eames.
A firm believer in the humanizing vocation of design, Aalto rejected not only rigid geometric forms, but also metal tubes and other artificial materials, which he considered too far removed from nature. His work was particularly well received in Great Britain and the USA in the 1930s and 1940s. His ideas as the “founding father of organic design” greatly influenced post-war designers such as Charles Eames and Ray Eames.
In 1952, Aalto married architect Elissa Mäkiniemi, with whom he worked until his death. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has devoted three major exhibitions to him (in 1938, 1984 and 1997). Inspired by the relationship between man and nature, Aalto's holistic, humanistic approach is the philosophical ground on which Scandinavian design has developed and flourished.
More a builder than a theoretician, he took functional decisions and used standardized elements, but above all he demonstrated extreme formal freedom: avoiding the systematic use of orthogonals, he often preferred curved or oblique lines in relation to a free, asymmetrical plan, generating a continuous space with subtle articulations. Last but not least, his main concern was to harmonize his buildings with the surrounding site and adapt them to the specificity of the program. In many ways, his approach is similar to that of Frank Lloyd Wright.
More a builder than a theoretician, he took functional decisions and used standardized elements, but above all he demonstrated extreme formal freedom: avoiding the systematic use of orthogonals, he often preferred curved or oblique lines in relation to a free, asymmetrical plan, generating a continuous space with subtle articulations. Last but not least, his main concern was to harmonize his buildings with the surrounding site and adapt them to the specificity of the program. In many ways, his approach is similar to that of Frank Lloyd Wright.
artek
Data sheet
- Size
- Ø38 x H44cm
- Materials
- legs and seat body in solid birch, seat surface in birch veneer
23 other products in the same category:
Stool 60, designed by Alvar Aalto in 1933, is the world's most copied design classic. To celebrate it, Artek has created several versions.