Browsing by Subject "Aino Aalto"

The purposes. Aino (1894 – 1949) and Alvar Aalto (1898 – 1976) were architects and designers whose work is well known around the world. Aalto had a holistic way of thinking about architectural work, which meant creating detailed compilations, including designing textiles also. Artek used other textile producers too, but this paper focuses on the textiles Aino and Alvar Aalto designed themselves for their interior designs, furniture and world exhibitions. The purpose of this research is to figure out what textiles Aino Aalto designed at the time when Artek was founded in the 30´s and what textiles Alvar Aalto designed later, in the 50’s. Aino and especially Alvar Aalto’s architectural work and furniture design has been researched extensively, but less has been written of their textiles. Therefore, one purpose of this research is to lighten this less known area of the Aalto’s work. The methods. For the artefact study in this research I photographed every fabric sample (over 100pcs) in the Alvar Aalto Archives in Jyväskylä and sorted them by the models/prints, colours and designers. The following steps in the research were done based on the photographs. There were five different models designed by Aino Aalto among the samples, four of them were screen printed fabrics and one was a woven textile. There were five different prints designed by Alvar Aalto. For closer examination, four of Aino Aalto’s and four of Alvar Aalto’s textiles were chosen for this research. The research work analyses the textile design careers of the Aalto’s and how their fabric designs have been in use. The conclusions. Many different colour variations exist of these print designs and they have been printed on various fabrics, for example same print were printed on upholstery and curtain materials. Aino Aalto’s fabric designs have stayed as part of design history and have not been manufactured ever since. She ended up designing fabrics when she worked as Artistic Director in Artek. Alvar Aalto’s ”Siena”-fabric is still in production by Artek, perhaps because of its timeless design.