Elissa Aalto centenary tours at the Foundation´s Museum sites

Year 2022 marks the centenary of the birth of Alvar Aalto’s second architect wife, Elissa Aalto. Special theme tours dedicated to Elissa Aalto are being hosted at Studio Aalto in Helsinki and Muuratsalo Experimental House and Säynätsalo Town Hall in Jyväskylä in Finnish language. Tours are also available in English upon request. A photographic chronicle of key stages in her life and career is presented in the small-scale exhibition Architect Elissa Aalto at the Studio.

More about the Elissa Aalto centenary here.

Stylish Elissa Aalto product range on sale in museum shops and online

The Alvar Aalto Foundation has launched an Elissa Aalto 100 product range featuring captivating photographs and sketches from Elissa’s life and career.

The Elissa Aalto 100 range comprises a beautiful notebook, a set of 16 postcards, a centenary poster, and a high-quality towel – all on sale in the Alvar Aalto Shop in Jyväskylä and Alvar Aalto Foundation museum sites, and online at shop.alvaraalto.fi. More about the Elissa Aalto 100 range here.

Elissa Aalto product range. Photo Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation.

Interior Designer Maija Heikinheimo exhibition at Säynätsalo Town Hall 

Interior Architect Maija Heikinheimo – Anchored in Artek, an exhibition now at Säynätsalo Town Hall, tells the story of the long life’s work at the interior design company Artek of this designer who always remained modest even as she gained in skill.

The exhibition reveals Maija Heikinheimo’s role in creating Säynätsalo Town Hall’s interior design in close collaboration with Alvar Aalto’s architect’s office. It showcases Heikinheimo’s furniture and interior drawings, all made in her eloquent signature style, along with examples of furniture and small objects. Material samples from the designer’s toolbox make clear, for example, what “Heikinheimo blue” meant in Artek’s colour palette. More about the exhibition here.

Exhibition of Maija Heikinheimo at Säynätsalo Town Hall. Photo Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foudantion.

Seaside museums – Seven gems on the capital’s western shore

Seven unique museum sites surround Laajalahti Bay in Helsinki: The Aalto House and Studio Aalto, Gallen-Kallela Museum, Didrichsen Art Museum, Tamminiemi, Seurasaari Open-Air Museum and Villa Gyllenberg. Besides their beautiful natural setting, they all have interesting architecture and history: all the buildings were originally built as museums and/or workplaces.

Seaside museums have jointly produced a reprint of a map aimed at attracting visitors to enjoy these cultural sites set in the Finnish capital’s shorescape. The map is available at the museum sites. More about Seaside museums and the map here.

The Aalto House in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki. Photo Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation.

Wolfsburg’s Alvar Aalto Week serves up a mixed feast of cultural events

Alvar Aalto Week is being held for the first time outside of Finland: in Wolfsburg, Germany, on 31.8-11.9.2022. One indisputable focus of the Week will be Wolfsburg Cultural Centre (1958-62), which this year celebrates 60 years since its completion in August. Two more projects by Aalto followed in Wolfsburg in 1968: Wolfsburg is home not only to the Cultural Centre, but also to the Church of the Holy Spirit on Klieversberg and to the Stephanus Church in Detmerode – also designed by Alvar Aalto.

Alvar Aalto Week offers visitors a multifaceted range of cultural events inspired by Wolfsburg’s Alvar Aalto-designed sites, Nordic culture, and more. The extensive cultural and architectural programme includes concerts, guided tours, films, and workshops for children and young people. Read more about the Alvar Aalto Week here and learn about the programme here.

Wolfsburg Cultural Centre. Photo Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foudantion.