Artek

Artek in Milan 2010

ARTEK IN MILAN 2010
Spazio Rossana Orlandi April 14-19

CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF ART & TECHNOLOGY

When Artek was founded in 1935, a manifest was drawn up, inspired by Functionalism. The vision was to interconnect modern visual arts and rational furniture production with popular education. The philosophy of Artek has been moulded by strong and talented people whose ideologies and radicalism are today more vibrant than ever. Artek's original values – long-term durability and high quality combined with a clean form language – are still the company's driving forces.

New Projects:

SHELVING SYSTEM by Naoto Fukasawa 2009

"I have always associated Aalto’s furniture designs, which highlight the graciousness of plain wood, with square building blocks. The basis for this design lies in the image of a plain wood cube with slightly rounded edges. The sections where the shelves and the support brace meet affords the design a gentle feel, the kind of feeling that can likewise be attributed to a stack of building blocks with rounded edges. The intersection of the X-shaped brace is fashioned from cast aluminium and has an unadorned, rough feel to it."

Naoto Fukasawa, April 2010

Featuring lacquered birch ladders, painted MDF shelves, and zinc and aluminium supports, the modular shelving unit is designed to complete Artek’s existing furniture collection. Created on the principles of Alvar Aalto’s L-system and based on the idea of modular systems, allowing for completely customisable furnishings – shelving system can be realised in any size or configuration, and may even be used as a room divider. The versatile shelving system is simple yet elegant with highly finished details.

Naoto Fukasawa has concernedly pursued the articulate aesthetic language of Alvar Aalto furniture into the design of his new work for Artek. Superseding the conception behind standards thinking, he has developed a beautifully restrained modular shelving system, says Ville Kokkonen, Artek’s Design Director, and continues: Without regard, Naoto Fukasawa has also mastered the aspect of newness, critical to Artek´s new product development philosophy.

Enzo Mari for Artek: SEDIA 1 – Chair
Homage to Autoprogettazione

Enzo Mari is a designer, thinker and provocateur. Determined to develop mass-produced objects without compromising his belief that the outcome should always be beautiful to look at and feel while being functional, Mari developed “16 Animali” (Danese, 1957), “3087 Vase” (Danese, 1969), the chairs “Sof Sof” and “Box” (Driade, 1971 and Castelli, 1975) and “Smith & Smith” kitchen tools (Zani & Zani, 1987). These are just some of his more than 2000 projects that have marked design history.

Sedia 1 – Chair is the first object from the famous and thought-provoking project “Autoprogettazione” (1974) to go into production with Artek. In line with the original idea of the project, customers will purchase a set of precut pinewood boards, nails and instructions for the chair. ”Design is always education,” sums up Mari.

Artek has also produced a 20-minute documentary “Enzo Mari for Artek : Homage to Autoprogettazione” in which Mari explains the idea behind the concept. The film will receive its world premiere at the Triennale Museum during Abitare Talks on Wednesday, April 14, at 6 pm, in the presence of Enzo Mari. Watch a trailer.

Artek & Missoni DRESS THE CHAIR!

The aim of the campaign is to highlight the quality and craftsmanship of Artek products, focusing on the iconic Armchair 400 designed by Alvar Aalto. Affectionately nicknamed 'The Tank', the armchair was first shown at the Milan Triennale in 1936. In the Artek & Missoni collaboration, armchairs 400 and 402 and Stool 60 are upholstered with Missoni's distinguished fabrics, Missoni Kew, Missoni Leigh and Missoni Chevron. 

From Milan, DRESS THE CHAIR! will go on tour to New York, Sydney, Tokyo and Helsinki. Along the way, new artists and designers will be invited to participate in the campaign, and their personal visions will be published one by one as the campaign reaches each new metropolis. When the tour ends in Helsinki, all visions will be brought together for a final show.

For more information, please contact:
Anna Vartiainen, Head of Marketing & Communications
anna.vartiainen@artek.fi, tel. +358 40 823 9039

Download Press Release here 

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