'FINMAR LIMITED: London, S.W.1, 44 Ranelagh Road', Finmar, sales catalogue, Helsingfors, 1936, n.p. for the chair
Domus (Milan), no. 103, July 1936, p. 42; no. 435, February 1966, fig. 21; no. 676, October 1986, p. 30; no. 697, September 1988, p. 108, fig. 2 for the chair
'Finmar: Furniture of the future for the home of To-day', Finmar, sales catalogue, London, 1939, p. 5 for the chair
Arts & Architecture (Los Angeles), December 1947, p. 4 for an advertisment of the dining table
Juhani Pallasmaa, ed., Alvar aalto furniture, exh, cat., Museum of Finnish Architecture Finnish Society of Crafts and Design Artek, Helsinki, 1984,fig. 75 for the chair
Aarno Ruusuvuori, ed., Alvar Aalto: 1898-1976, exh. cat., The Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki, 1978, p. 62, fig. 86, p. 85, fig. 120 for the chair
Eva B Ottillinger, Alvar Aalto: Möbel Die Sammlung Kossdorff, Wien, 2002, p. 28, fig. 1 for the chair
Pirkko Tuukkanen, ed., Alvar Aalto: Designer, Vammala, 2002, p. 59 for a period image, p. 75 for a period image of the Paimio Sanatorium cafeteria, p. 162
Thomas Kellein, Alvar & Aino Aalto; Collection Bischofberger, Zurich, 2005, p. 19 for the chair
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.
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