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Armchair 401 by Hella Jongerius

ARMCHAIR 401 by Hella Jongerius

Designer: Alvar Aalto

Year: 1936

Armrests: “Silver Birch” lacquered,honey, walnut or charcoal stained.Seat and back: upholstery withselected fabrics.

Armrests: “Silver Birch” lacquered, honey, walnut or charcoal stained.

Seat and back: upholstery withselected Hella Jongerius fabrics.

Hella Jongerius’ reinterpretation of Alvar Aalto armchairs 400 and 401 together with Stool 60 is the beginning of a new collaboration on a crisp and tactile collection of Artek classics. 

About Designer
Hella Jongerius

The designer Hella Jongerius has become known for the manner in which she fuses industry and craft, high- and low-tech, traditional and contemporary. In 1993 she founded the Jongeriuslab studio, where she has pursued independent projects and also created products for major clients, including Maharam, Danskina, IKEA and KLM.

For Vitra, the Dutch designer has developed distinctive pieces such as the Polder Sofa and the East River Chair. Jongerius has consistently addressed the significance of colours and surfaces in contemporary design in her work with textiles, ceramics and furniture. She has been the Art Director for colours and materials at Vitra for many years and developed the Vitra Colour & Material Library – a system that enables the versatile combination of different materials and colours throughout the extensive Vitra product collection. Hella Jongerius has also written a book about this complex task entitled «I Don’t Have a Favorite Colour».

Works by Hella Jongerius have been shown at museums and galleries such as Design Museum (London), Galerie kreo (Paris) and the Moss Gallery (New York).

Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), one of the founders of Artek, was born in Kuortane, Finland. Alvar Aalto is recognized today as one of the great masters of modern architecture. During his long and prolific career, Aalto’s work embraced almost all key public institutions - town halls, theatres, churches, libraries and universities - as well as standardized housing and private homes. Aalto’s architecture is distinctively Finnish. It is marked by a warm humanity and strong individuality. His buildings derive their special aesthetic character from their dynamic relationship with their natural surroundings, their human scale, superbly executed details, unique treatment of materials and ingenious use of lighting. Like all great art, however, Aalto’s architecture transcends national boundaries. His work is not the exclusive property of Finland: it forms a part of a common cultural heritage of European and worldwide significance. Alvar Aalto began designing furnishings as a natural and important extension of his architectural thinking. His first modern piece of furniture was created in 1931-32 for the Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Paimio, which proved to be his international breakthrough. Artek was set up in 1935 to market and sell Alvar and Aino Aalto's furniture, lamps and textiles, particularly on international markets where Artek focused its operations from the initial stages. Through the innovations in form and line that were born in his furniture designs, Alvar Aalto’s name has also become important in the history of design. In fact, Aalto first achieved fame in Continental Europe as a furniture designer, and only later on as an architect. His contribution to furniture design was among his foremost achievements in its own right, and it sowed the seed from which many of his architectural ideas sprang forth. Alvar Aalto’s furniture and lighting pieces form the basis of the Artek range.