| Natural Interior Design

Aalto Alvar (3.2.1898, Kuortane - 11.5.1976,Helsinki). Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto established an architectural office in Jyväskylä in 1923. The office moved to Turku in 1927 and to Helsinki in 1933. In 1955 he was granted membership in the Finnish Academy and held its presidency in 1963 – 1968. From 1946 to 1948 he was visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded a considerable amount of honours and prizes around the world. Aalto made numerous journeys to Europe and beyond. His best loved destination was Italy. He had a remarkable contribution in the design of modern pieces of furniture, light fixtures and interiors, channeled through the Artek company established in 1935. The entire career of Alvar Aalto reflects his zeal to perform each task with an open mind, always creating something new. Aalto gained growing international fame with his functionalist designs, and he moved to Helsinki with his family in 1933. Aalto designed remarkable private houses – his own home in Helsinki (1936) and te Villa Mairea in Noormarkku (1939). These buildings reveal his desire to break the strict rules of modernist architecture and realise his own vision of harmony between man, nature and architecture. Alvar Aalto's architecture has been characterized as both Finnish and international. His large production can be seen to reflect inspiration from domestic nature and tradition but also from the long history of architecture. What this great creative talent did was combine these into a highly original synthesis.