Artek, which stands for Art and Technology, was founded in 1935 by four idealists, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen, and Nils-Gustav Hahl, who sought to include furniture in a grand synthesis of the arts that joined town planning with architecture and design. Headquartered in Finland, where it maintains three stores, Artek is owned by a Swedish investment company. Found in homes and museums, offices and hotels, Artek products combine rational and artistic design impulses.
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Armchair 400—
Created by Alvar Aalto in 1936, Armchair 400 is a widely recognizable design classic. With a natural lacquered birch frame and foam and Dacron seat and back, Armchair 400 is upholstered in fabric or leather. The seat and back appear thick and substantial, contrasting with the virtually weightless arms, which emerge from the sides of the chair in sweeping C-shaped arcs. The negative space carved by the birch frame adds a note of visual interest and keeps the silhouette airy.
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Pendant Lamp A331—
Popularly known as the Beehive Lamp, Alvar Aalto’s Pendant Lamp A331 is Artek’s best-selling lighting item. Originally created in 1953 for the interior design of the University of Jyväskylä, Pendant Lamp A331 is a sculptural piece shaped like a beehive. Constructed of white painted aluminum with polished brass or chrome rings peeking from between the five white bands, the Beehive Lamp revels in its oblong silhouette. With its reticulated form and clean white palette, Pendant Lamp A331 is a modern lighting gem.
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Stool 60—
One of Artek’s signature pieces, Stool 60 “represents the quintessence of functionalist furniture design.” The 1933 design of Alvar Aalto, this stackable stool features three (or four) L-legs and a round table top—the elements of a most recognizable and often copied form. Natural, lacquered birch is the standard finish, although Stool 60 is also available with white or black lacquered legs; and with birch veneer, laminate, linoleum, white or black lacquered, or upholstered seats with fabric or leather in white laminate and black linoleum. Completely lacquered versions (legs and seat) come in white, grey, black, and red. A perfect example of Artek’s “original idea of standards and systems,” the stackable Stool 60 uses Alvar Aalto’s L-system of “unique bends that eventually became the distinctive feature of all Aalto furniture.”
In 2010, Artek celebrated its 75th anniversary by acquiring the rights to Ilmari Tapiovaara’s furniture collection. In concert with the legacy of Alvar Aalto, whose designs form the core of company’s catalogue, the current Artek style is characterized by versatility, simplicity, and functionality. Concerned with “ethics, aesthetics and ecology,” Artek explores materials and strategies for sustainable design.
