Alvar Aalto 41 - Paimio Scroll Chair

Alvar Aalto (1898 – 1976), was a Finish architect and designer. Through his life, Alto had adopted with the timely influences resulting in his works ranging from Classicism, International Modernism and to a more organic modernist style later in his career. Early in his career, Finland faced a rapid economic growth as a result, most of Alto's clients during his classicalism era were of the Industrialist nature. Aalto’s designs were radical and innovative and became known for his experimental approach to bending wood.

 

Other works by Aalto also follow similar design of the Paimio Armchair such as the armchairs 42, 45, 46, 401, 402 as well as the lounge chair 400 each employing the characteristics of bent wood with simplistic design.

     

Paimio Armchair 41 was designed in 1931 a period of conservatism and of time in which many European countries were still recovering from events of the great war earlier that decade. The realisation of the effect war had on raw material supplies helped bring about the design of the Paimio chair which is epitomises the simplicity of chair design. 


Alto's influence for the Paimio chair was by Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair (1927) but instead of using steel, the chair was constructed using bent plywood. The main material used in this design is burch plywood. The seat is a thinner plywood sheet with curvature on its top and bottom possible through bending the wood, This adds a springy characteristic as well as structural strength. The overall aim for the Paimio was to design a chair that gave wood a perception of soft comfort, with ergonomic intent to allow users to lean back and promote better breathing. Reason being that the chair was originally designed to be used in the patient’s lounge in the Paimio Sanatorium