Artek

Artek was founded in Helsinki in 1935 by Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and Nils-Gustav Hahl. The four idealists wrote a manifesto that set out to sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of living through exhibitions and education. Aino Aalto served as the first Design Director and from 1941 as Managing Director. She led the interior design division called the Drawing Office. Gullichsen, a painter trained in Paris and Helsinki, brought exhibitions of Picasso, Leger and Calder to Finland and founded the Artek Gallery in 1950. Hahl, an art historian, was the first Managing Director until his death at the front in 1941. The furniture rests on Alvar Aalto's L-leg, developed with manufacturer Otto Korhonen in the late 1920s. That bent solid wood leg made more than fifty products possible. The Helsinki store at Keskuskatu 1 B opened in March 2016 in a building designed by Eliel Saarinen and completed in 1921, opposite the Stockmann department store. Two floors of about 700 square metres hold the Artek collection alongside Vitra and other Finnish and international brands. Interior design services are offered, and a workshop customises Stool 60 on site. Artek marked its 90th anniversary in 2025 with a summer exhibition at the store and an Artek + Moomin collection engraved with Tove Jansson's drawings.