Artek was founded in 1935 by four young idealists: Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and Nils-Gustav Hahl. The business idea of the company was "to sell furniture and to promote modern culture of habitation by exhibitions and other means." The founders of Artek advocated a new kind of environment for everyday life. They believed in a grand synthesis of the arts and wanted to make a difference in town planning as well as architecture and design.
One of Alvar Aalto's Finnish fixtures for Artek, the on-the-smaller-size A338 will provide direct light from its offset opening in the painted steel shade.
The grown-up version of Ikea, Naoto Fukasawa’s Shelving System for Artek is a vision of modular minimalism. Taking another step in cementing Artek’s legacy of Scandinavian simplicity, the lacquered birch, painted MDF, and zinc and aluminum of the design make a clear case that less is indeed more. Though we’d be happy stacking books on this thing, the metal braces give it a slight industrial feel that makes it ideal for any office, be downtown or just down the hall.
Pros: If you desire maximum luminosity from a minimalist design, this one’s for you.
Who says design can’t do a body good? Bright 1 is certified for bright-light therapy—a treatment for insomnia, depression, and seasonal affective disorder—and will look much better in your living room than most therapeutic lamps on the market.
Cons: This. Lamp. Will. Get. Bright. It’s blinding at its highest setting. Use the dimmer switch to dial it down a notch.
Lie back, relax, and tell us about your mother. Innovative bent-wood, L-leg construction ensures this lounge chair’s longevity, so generations to come can reflect on the simplicity of good design.
Artek's A110 pendant has been shining brightly since it was designed by Finnish founder Alvar Aalto in 1952. The lacquered aluminum lamp directs focused rays—like a spotlight for your coffee or dining room table—and is available in black or white. YLighting carries this, and the equally enduring A338.
“I have always associated Aalto’s designs, which highlight the graciousness of plain wood, with square building blocks,” says designer Naoto Fukasawa. His birch-laddered modular shelves complement the Finnish brand’s clean-lined collection.
Pros
The classic of the bunch, Alvar Aalto’s 1936 design is the quintessence of Scandinavian modernism. Better still, the 112B is deep and wide enough to handle a potted plant and your Finnish–English dictionary without losing its functional elegance. It looks great hung alone or with a small squadron of other 112Bs.
Cons
If the devil is in the details, then we’d be even more enamored of Aalto’s design if the screws that affix the hanging brackets to the shelf weren’t exposed.
The understated simplicity of the design and its $425 price tag may chafe when your friends ask (understandably) if you got the shelf at Ikea.
