Take a look at the work of Maija Heikinheimo in a small-scale exhibition at Studio Aalto in Helsinki. Maija Heikinheimo had a long career as a designer in the furniture industry and as Artistic Director of Artek.

Heikinheimo qualified as a furniture draughtsman at the Ateneum School, properly known as the Central School of Industrial Arts, in 1932. She was given a job at the Asko-Avonius furniture factory as their first trained furniture draughtsman and several pieces of furniture she designed were taken into production by the factory. In 1937, she began a lengthy career on the staff of Artek.

The exhibition shows a review of Maija Heikinheimo’s career at Artek and at Asko-Avonius. The exhibition also considers Heikinheimo’s design principles and the issue of the anonymity of interior design in the furniture industry. Artek furniture was marketed under the name of Alvar Aalto, although the firm employed several designers. The names of individual designers often remained unknown in order to emphasise anonymity, but Heikinheimo’s name appears on many of the drawings.

As an Artek staff member, Maija Heikinheimo contributed to the interior design of a number of important Aalto buildings including Säynätsalo Town Hall. Artek and Heikinheimo also designed interiors for projects that were the work of others, such as Malmi Airport and various ships in the Finnish merchant fleet. Heikinheimo also had a role of her own as designer of Artek sales displays.

This exhibition shows Maija Heikinheimo’s work with the help of archive photographs, drawings and actual pieces of furniture. You can visit the exhibition in conjunction with a guided tour of the Studio’s architecture.

Studio Aalto

Tiilimäki 20, Helsinki, Finland

Open Tue-Sat 11.30-12.30

Enquiries and reservations, e-mail: riihitie@alvaraalto.fi

For more information:

Mia Hipeli, tel. + 358 (0)400 883 463, e-mail: mia.hipeli@alvaraalto.fi