Armchair, ‘armchair 41’, designed by Alvar Aalto (born 1898). Manufactured by Huonekalu-ja-Rakennaus-tyotehdas Oy, Abo; then by Artek. Finnish, 1932. Birch laminated frame with black preformed plywood seat.

Armchair, ‘armchair 41’, designed by Alvaar Aalto (born 1898). Made by Huonekalu-ja-Rakennaus-tyotehdas Oy, Abo; then by Artek. Finnish, designed 1932. Birch laminated frame with black preformed plywood seat.
Designed as part of the furnishing for the TB sanatorium at Paimio. The chair was produced in alternative versions with plain plywood and an upholstered seat. It was included in an exhibition of Finnish Design sponsored by the Architectural Review at Fortnum & Mason, London, in November 1933. The seat was of special pressed 3mm plywood, moulded on two different forms.
Shown at 1939 New York Worlds Fair.

On another example, from Hollis, R. 1970. Modern Chairs:1918-1970. The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London:
"Designed as part of the furnishing for the TB Sanatorium at Paimio, the chair was produced in alternative versions both with a plain plywood and an upholstered seat. It was in an exhibition of Finnish Design sponsored by the Architectural Review at Fortnum & Mason, London, in November 1933. The seat was of special pressed 3mm plywood, moulded on two different forms. This is the first pliant chair built without rigid or semi-rigid framework: the construction lying not in the stouter plywood of the ‘wheels’ – which merely transfer the load at four points like the ratchets of a deck-chair – but the interior bending tensions of the material forming the seat-back, whose inherent strength resides in the varying thickness of its section. Though buoyant as a spring-cushion the seat-back is virtually unbreakable. The Aalto chair is the result of experiments extending over three years, in which all the plywoods used were made by the designer himself. It is impossible to imagine a more comfortable chair, though it will ultimately be the cheapest."

Alvar Aalto: architect, urban designer, born 1898, trained Helsinki College of Technology, own office from 1923 in Jyraskyla, then Turku and Helsinki, founded Artek firm for mass-produced furniture in 1935, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1940-49. Design work has included general house furnishing, light fittings, textiles. RIBA Gold Medal 1957.
Also from Hollis, R. 1970. Modern Chairs:1918-1970. The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

CIRC.26-1969