2x chair 21, Alvar Aalto, Huonekalu-ja Rakennustyötehdas Oy Turku, 1933

Having visited Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanitorium, in Finland, Architecture critic Philip Morton Shand along with business partner Geoffrey Boumphrey set up Finmar. Finmar had the exclusive rights to import and distribute Aalto’s furniture in the UK. In that year they set up Fortnum & Mason’s Exhibition (London) featuring a whole range of furniture and sculptural reliefs using birch plywood – the first time it had been shown to the British Public.

After the exhibition other retailers such as Bowman Bros. and H. G. Dunne (amongst others) wanted in on this new product and so retailed Aalto’s furniture in their stores across the country.

Included in these products was the cantilever Chair 21, a version here which is seen in “ordinary birch” (Finmar Catalogue, 1936)   – original Finmar tags are present on both chairs. They can be used as dining chairs, bedroom, or hallway chairs with resilient legs that can be nested.

Condition:

Good structural condition, some wear to the birch seats and back. One small bit of veneer raised, but can be rectified – nothing significant. 

Image:

Artek Catalogue, 1939, republished by the Alvar Aalto Museum, 2003

‘A Dining Room by Bowman Bros., London, Decorative Art’, The Studio Year Book, 1938