ARTEK

Artek came into being in December 1935, at the instigation of three idealists, Alvar Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and the art historian Nils-Gustav Hahl. The purpose of Artek was explained in Arkkitehtilehti (The Finnish Architectural Review) and elsewhere as follows: "...to campaign on behalf of rational living and rational furnishing." In real terms the aim was to build a company to market the furniture designed by Alvar Aalto and to hold exhibitions showing the latest international trends in art.

The very name Artek exemplifies the aim of combining art with technology, that was typical of the age. The doors of the first Artek shop at Fabianinkatu 31, Helsinki, were opened in 1936, with the name of the firm written up boldly on the facade in slender, Bauhaus-style lettering. The business was run by N.-G. Hahl and Aino Marsio-Aalto together. Hahl was killed in the war and from then onwards Aino Aalto, assisted by the interior designer Maija Heikinheimo, ran the firm's drawing office until she died, in 1949.

The first overseas exhibition of Artek was opened at the Milan Triennale in 1936, with a display designed by Aino Aalto. The display was awarded a prize, as too was the Bölgeblick glassware range which she also designed by. As a result of these prizes, Artek received a good deal of publicity on an international scale. When Artek held an exhibition of the work of Fernand Léger and Alexander Calder, which opened in November 1937, it could truly be said that Artek had arrived and was in tune with the times.

Over the years, the Artek drawing office designed almost all the interiors for Aalto's buildings. More than 60 years have passed since it was established, but Aalto's furniture and light fittings still form the basis of Artek's product range. The textiles that Aino designed for the firm are still on sale there, as too are the Moroccan rugs and decorative objects she discovered.