Aalto stool 70 years

Artek celebrates the 70th anniversary of the classic Alvar Aalto stool with the launch of a special edition.

Alvar Aalto threw the prototype stool across the floor. Satisfied with its strength he predicted: "Someday we'll sell thousands of these." Aalto's estimate has proved wildly inaccurate: 70 years later over 1.5 million have been sold globally, making it one of the few truly popular icons of modern design.

In the early 1930s Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) had began to experiment with ways of interpreting modern design in wood. This seemingly simple stool features what Aalto considered his most important innovation in furniture design, the L-leg, made from solid birch wood. First exhibited at London's Fortnum and Mason department store in 1933, the space-saving stackable stool was heralded as the quintessence of elegantly functional furniture design. Aalto used the daring structural solution as a module for an entire range of stools, chairs and tables that continue to be in demand worldwide.

To mark the 70th anniversary, Artek is producing a special edition, Stool 60, with a curly birch seat. Finnish curly birch is a distinctive wood species with a speckled pattern and wave-like annual rings that give a rich surface texture. Stool 60 features a brass plaque engraved with the year on the bottom of the seat and is sold in a special gift packaging, making it a genuine collector's item in the Aalto furniture line.

New products

		Special edition of the original Alvar Aalto stool In celebration of the 70th anniversary of one of the most important and popular icons of modern design icons, Artek are launching a special edition Stool 60 in rare curly birch wood.
Stool 60 Designer: Alvar Aalto 1932-33 Birch, natural lacquered. Three legs. Seat options: birch veneer, linoleum, laminate, upholstered. Also available stained in white or black with upholstered seat. Upholstery options: Artek's standard fabric or customer's own fabric, leather. Stackable. Available also in gift box.

Launch of Aalto Coffee Table Artek are reissuing Alvar Aalto's innovative L-leg coffee table, Double Coffee Table 1933. Although it has not been in production since the 1940s, the elegant low birch table with its clever magazine shelf fits easily into contemporary homes, foyers or lounge areas.

Stool 60 in honey birch A new finish with the rich warmth of vintage Artek furniture will be shown for the first time in Milan.