Alvar Aalto - Design Day Sale London Monday, April 27, 2015 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Private collection, Helsinki
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Literature

    'Artek, Finlandia', Domus, no. 440, July 1966, n.p.
    Thomas Kellein, ed., alvar & aino aalto. design, collection bischofberger, exh. cat., Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Zurich, 2005, p. 185

  • Artist Biography

    Alvar Aalto

    Finnish • 1898 - 1976

    In contrast with the functionalism of the International Style (as well the neoclassicism put forward by the Nazi and Soviet regimes), Alvar Aalto brought a refreshing breath of humanism to modern design: "True architecture exists only where man stands in the center," he wrote. Aalto designed furniture in stack-laminated plywood composed of Finnish birch, which was cost-effective and lent warmth to his interiors. Aalto also revived Finnish glass design with his entries in the various Karhula-Iitala glassworks competitions throughout the 1930s.

    In 1936 he won first place for a collection of colorful, wavy vases in various sizes titled Eskimoerindens skinnbuxa (The Eskimo Woman’s Leather Breeches). The vases were an immediate success and the most popular size, now known as the "Savoy" vase, is still in production today. Aalto's freeform designs, in harmony with human needs and nature, anticipated the organic modernism of the 1950s and 1960s; in particular, his innovations in bent plywood had a major impact on designers such as Charles and Ray Eames.

    View More Works

45

Standard lamp, model no. A 808, designed for the National Pensions Institute, Helsinki

1955-1956
Brass, tubular brass, leather-bound metal, painted metal.
167.4 cm (65 7/8 in.) high
Manufactured by Valaistustyö Ky, Helsinki, Finland. Standard impressed with Valaistustyö A808.

Estimate
£5,000 - 7,000 

Sold for £5,625

Contact Specialist
Meaghan Roddy
Head of Sale
New York
+44 20 7318 4027

Design Day Sale

London Day Sale 28 April 2015 2pm