The Finnish designer Eero Aarnio (b.1932) is one of the great innovators of modern furniture design. In the 1960s, Eero Aarnio began experimenting with plastics, vivid colors and organic forms, breaking away from traditional design conventions. His now iconic plastic creations include the Ball (1963), the Pastil (1968), and the Bubble (1968) chairs which echo the pop culture and spirit of their time. Many of Aarnio’s works are included in the world’s most prestigious museums, including Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA in New York and Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.
https://eeroaarnio.com
Biography
Born 21.7.1932 in Helsinki, Finland
School of Applied Arts, Helsinki 1954-57
Married Pirkko Attila 1956
Children Marja-Leena 1959 and Rea 1961
Designer, Asko Oy 1960-62 in Lahti, Finland
Own design office 1962 Helsinki, Finland
Eero Aarnio Design Studio GmbH 1978-82 in Cologne, Germany
Design Studio in Tapiola, Finland 1982
Eero Aarnio T:mi, Veikkola, Finland 1992
Aarnio Design Ltd., Veikkola, Finland 2001
Awards
- Valmet Trade Mark Competition, Helsinki, Finland 1958, First Prize
- International Furniture Competition, Cantu, Italy 1959, Third Prize
- Export Furniture Competition, Helsinki, Finland 1963, Third Prize
- International Competition on Furniture Design, Cantu, Italy 1964, First Prize
- Scandinavian Park and Street Competition 1965, Stockholm, Sweden, First Prize
- Steel Furniture Competition, Helsinki, Finland 1967, Second Prize
- International Design Award of the A.I.D. (American Institute of Interior Designers) for Pastil Chair (Gyro) 1968, New York, USA
- Honorary member of SIO (Finnish Association of Interior Designers) 1999
- The Finland Prize 2005, The Ministry of Education, Finland
- Interior Innovation Award Cologne 2006, Germany
- Professor h.c. 2007
- The ADI Compasso d’Oro Award 2008, for Trioli chair, Italy
- Kaj Franck Design Prize of 2008, Finland
- Red Dot Design Award 2010, for Kubo bright light, Germany
- Pro Finlandia Medal 2010, Finland
- Green GOOD DESIGN 2010, for The Tree, USA
- Red Dot Design Award 2012, for Ghost lamp, Germany
- Prince Eugen Medal 2017, Sweden
Solo Exhibitions
- That´s it, Art Gallery Árvore, Porto, Portugal 2001
- Eero Aarnio, Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland 2003
- Eero Aarnio – popfantasier og sittende dagdrømmer, Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo, Norway 2004
- Forestil dig en rund stol, Danish Design Center, Kopenhagen, Denmark 2005
- Pop Fantasies: Furniture Design by Eero Aarnio, The Embassy of Finland, Washington DC, USA 2005
- Fantasías del Pop. El diseño de Eero Aarnio, Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City 2007
- Eero Aarnio – Retropop, Phantasie und Tagträume, The Embassy of Finland, Berlin, Germany 2007
- The Kaj Franck Design Prize of 2008 – Eero Aarnio, Design Forum Finland, Helsinki 2008
- Kaj Frank Design Prize Exhibition at the exhibition center of the visual arts TR1, Tampere 2009
- Eero Aarnio Life in Design, AXIS Gallery, Tokyo and Design Museum de sign de, Osaka, Japan 2014
- Eero Aarnio, Design Museum, Helsinki, Finland 2016
- Eero Aarnio, Nationalmuseum Design, Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm, Sweden 2017
- Eero Aarnio, Vandalorum, Värnamo, Sweden 2017
Group Exhibitions
- Rattan Stools, Asko Oy, Helsinki 1961
- 7+7 Arkitekter, Stockholm, Sweden 1964
- Triennale XIV, Milan, Italy 1964
- Eurodomus, Genova, Italy 1966 and Milan, Italy 1970
- Fiberglass Furniture, Asko Oy, Helsinki 1968
- Plastic as Plastic, New York, USA 1970
- Design aus Finnland, Asko GmbH, Cologne, Germany 1979
- Masters of Modern Design, IBM Gallery, New York, USA 1991
- Plastic Fantastic, Trapholt Museum of Modern Art, Denmark 2005
- Pop Art Design, EMMA (Espoo Museum of Modern Art), Finland 2015
- Golden Generations. Modernism in Finnish Architecture and Design, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia 2015
- Finnish Design 2017, Fukuoka City Museum, Japan 2017
Represented in Museums
- Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York, USA
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain
- Design Museum, Helsinki, Finland
- Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
- Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
- Musée des arts décoratifs de Montreal, Canada
- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Die Neue Sammlung, München, Germany
- Galerie für Avantgarde Kunst, Cologne, Germany
- Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
- Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf im Ehrenhof, Germany
- Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
- Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
- Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection, Le Musée du Chateau Dufresne, Montreal, Canada
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA
- Toledo Museum of Art, USA
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA
- Baltimore Museum of Art, USA
- Bauhaus Museum, Sydney, Australia
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMa), San Francisco, USA
- Veletrzni Palace (Prague Museum of Modern Art), Prague, Czech Republic
Books of Eero Aarnio
- That´s it. Vestígio, Consultores de Design, Portugal 2001
- Eero Aarnio. Fang Hai. China Architecture & Building Press 2002
- Assume a round chair–Eero Aarnio and the 60´s. Kunsthalle Helsinki, University of Art and Design, Helsinki 2003
- Eero Aarnio. Fang Hai. Southeast University Press, China 2003
- Eero Aarnio, Kaj Frank Design Prize. Design Forum Finland 2008
- I Protagonisti del Design/Eero Aarnio. Hachette, Italy 2011
- A = 4 π r2 Eero Aarnio. Design Forum, Finland 2014
- Eero Aarnio-Värin ja ilon muotoilija. (Eero Aarnio-Designer of Colour and Joy). WSOY, Finland 2016.
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