Alvar Aalto: In the Master’s Home

You may have seen me mention Alvar Aalto before, whether it be here or on my personal website, and over the weekend Nowness created this fantastic feature showcasing photography of the interior and exterior of the Alvar Aalto house in Helsinki, Finland.

Alvar was a Finnish architect and designer, and was probably the most important Finnish architect of the 20th century. Not only did he design buildings, he had a concern for design as “a total work of art”, whereby he would design everything inside it, such as furniture, lamps, furnishings and glassware.

Nowness invited Finland’s top contemporary design talent to showcase their work in the home of the country’s greatest most celebrated aesthete. Today this place is preserved as an atmospheric museum, which was the architect’s permanent residency and studio from 1936 until his death. Here they select some top Finnish designers work from individuals such as Jussi Takkinen, Ville Kokkonen, and Marko Nenonen, then they have hired the talents of Estelle Hanania to take the photographs for them. These photography really makes all the work pop out and match Alvar’s style perfectly.

I’ve always been in love with the clean lines, the functionality and the unpretentious nature of his design work, and many other Finnish designers around that time. But Aalto is definitely a pioneer in his own right and led the way for a lot of other fantastic work that we see today, whether it be past or present.

www.estellehanania.com
www.nowness.com

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