Artek’s three-legged Aalto stool, the iconic stool 60, turns 90 this year. Artek is marking the anniversary with special editions, the first of which underlines the innovative structure of the stool. Here comes stool 60 Kontrasti!
A CLASSIC AMONG CLASSICS, the iconic stool 60 is reaching the respectable age of 90 this year. Designed by Alvar Aalto, Artek’s three-legged stool was first introduced in 1933 and has been in production ever since.
To mark the occasion, Artek is launching several special edition stools that celebrate the design’s most prominent features from the ingenious L-shaped leg construction to the natural beauty of Finnish birch wood. The first limited edition stool is called Kontrasti, Finnish for ”contrast”.
Stool 60 Kontrasti
The basic idea of the newly released Kontrasti stool is to highlight the structure of the classic piece – especially that of Alvar Aalto’s signature L-leg, whose bending process was something completely unprecedented at the time of its creation.
In a nutshell, Aalto’s idea was to create a leg structure that would be easy to attach to the seat without complicated wooden joints. In order to prevent the wood from breaking when bent, Aalto came up with the idea of sawing notches at the end of each leg and gluing wooden veneer sheets into them to make the legs pliable. Thus was born the iconic L leg.
In the Kontrasti stool, this technique has been emphasized with thermo-treated and therefore darker veneer strips that stand out from the light-colored birch, and the same darker veneer is also used in the seat. These details underline not only the innovative structure but also the use of just one raw material, Finnish birch wood, and its natural beauty that has also paid a significant role in the stool’s 90-year-old success story.
Finnish Design Shop joins the festivities
Finnish Design Shop is joining the celebrations by expanding its selection of Aalto stools with three special editions available only on our website.
Last year our webstore turned 18 – still some years to go until we reach 90 – and to honor the occasion, we launched a special collection of three Aalto stools in collaboration with Artek. Now we’re adding another three colors to the series: the soft pink ”powder”, the grey-beige ”mushroom”, and a mix of brown, grey, and purple called ”mauve”. The new additions were selected by Finnish Design Shop’s Interior Architect and Showroom Manager Maija Rasila.
• Read more: Finnish Design Shop’s special collection features Artek’s stool 60 in new colors – what’s your favorite?
The party continues
In addition to the Kontrasti stool, Artek has some other surprises up its sleeve for the anniversary. In fall 2023, it will release two more special versions of the stool called Loimu (”flame”) and Villi (”wild”). The latter was designed in collaboration with the design agency Formafantasma, while the Loimu and Kontrasti stools were designed by Artek’s own design team. Aalto fans might also want to watch this space – more Artek-related content might be on the way sooner than you think.
Both the anniversary-edition stool 60 Kontrasti and the new colors curated by Maija Rasila are now available at Finnish Design Shop.
See also:
• All products by Artek >
• All designs by Alvar Aalto >
Edit: Emmi Ratilainen Images: Artek, Edvard Enqvist