Profile
The Finnish designer Eero Aarnio (b.1932) is one of the great innovators of modern furniture design. In the 1960s, Eero Aarnio began experimenting with plastics, vivid colors and organic forms, breaking away from traditional design conventions. His now iconic plastic creations include the Ball (1963), the Pastil (1968), and the Bubble (1968) chairs which echo the pop culture and spirit of their time. Many of Aarnio’s works are included in the world’s most prestigious museums, including Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA in New York and Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.
Biography
Born 21.7.1932 in Helsinki, Finland
School of Applied Arts, Helsinki 1954-57
Married Pirkko Attila 1956
Children Marja-Leena 1959 and Rea 1961
Designer, Asko Oy 1960-62 in Lahti, Finland
Own design office 1962 Helsinki, Finland
Eero Aarnio Design Studio GmbH 1978-82 in Cologne, Germany
Design Studio in Tapiola, Finland 1982
Eero Aarnio T:mi, Veikkola, Finland 1992
Aarnio Design Ltd., Veikkola, Finland 2001
Awards
Valmet Trade Mark Competition, Helsinki, Finland 1958, First Prize
International Furniture Competition, Cantu, Italy 1959, Third Prize
Export Furniture Competition, Helsinki, Finland 1963, Third Prize
International Competition on Furniture Design, Cantu, Italy 1964, First Prize
Scandinavian Park and Street Competition 1965, Stockholm, Sweden, First Prize
Steel Furniture Competition, Helsinki, Finland 1967, Second Prize
International Design Award of the A.I.D. (American Institute of Interior Designers) for Pastil Chair (Gyro) 1968, New York, USA
Honorary member of SIO (Finnish Association of Interior Designers) 1999
The Finland Prize 2005, The Ministry of Education, Finland
Interior Innovation Award Cologne 2006, Germany
The ADI Compasso d’Oro Award 2008, for Trioli chair, Italy
Kaj Franck Design Prize of 2008, Finland
Red Dot Design Award 2010, for Kubo bright light, Germany
Pro Finlandia Medal 2010, Finland
Green GOOD DESIGN 2010, for The Tree, USA
Red Dot Design Award 2012, for Ghost lamp, Germany
Solo Exhibitions
That´s it, Art Gallery Árvore, Porto, Portugal 2001
Eero Aarnio, Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland 2003
Eero Aarnio – popfantasier og sittende dagdrømmer, Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo, Norway 2004
Forestil dig en rund stol, Danish Design Center, Kopenhagen, Denmark 2005
Pop Fantasies: Furniture Design by Eero Aarnio, The Embassy of Finland, Washington DC, USA 2005
Fantasías del Pop. El diseño de Eero Aarnio, Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City 2007
Eero Aarnio – Retropop, Phantasie und Tagträume, The Embassy of Finland, Berlin, Germany 2007
The Kaj Franck Design Prize of 2008 – Eero Aarnio, Design Forum Finland, Helsinki 2008
Kaj Frank Design Prize Exhibition at the exhibition center of the visual arts TR1, Tampere 2009
Eero Aarnio Life in Design, AXIS Gallery, Tokyo and Design Museum de sign de, Osaka, Japan 2014
Eero Aarnio, Design Museum, Helsinki, Finland 2016
Group Exhibitions
Rattan Stools, Asko Oy, Helsinki 1961
7+7 Arkitekter, Stockholm, Sweden 1964
Triennale XIV, Milan, Italy 1964
Eurodomus, Genova, Italy 1966 and Milan, Italy 1970
Fiberglass Furniture, Asko Oy, Helsinki 1968
Plastic as Plastic, New York, USA 1970
Design aus Finnland, Asko GmbH, Cologne, Germany 1979
Masters of Modern Design, IBM Gallery, New York, USA 1991
Plastic Fantastic, Trapholt Museum of Modern Art, Denmark 2005
Pop Art Design, EMMA (Espoo Museum of Modern Art), Finland 2015
Golden Generations. Modernism in Finnish Architecture and Design, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia 2015
Represented in Museums
Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York, USA
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Great Britain
Design Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Musée des arts décoratifs de Montreal, Canada
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Die Neue Sammlung, München, Germany
Galerie für Avantgarde Kunst, Cologne, Germany
Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands
Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf im Ehrenhof, Germany
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection, Le Musée du Chateau Dufresne, Montreal, Canada
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA
Toledo Museum of Art, USA
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA
Baltimore Museum of Art, USA
Bauhaus Museum, Sydney, Australia
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMa), San Francisco, USA
Veletrzni Palace (Prague Museum of Modern Art), Prague, Czech Republic
Books of Eero Aarnio
That´s it. Vestígio, Consultores de Design, Portugal 2001
Eero Aarnio. Fang Hai. China Architecture & Building Press 2002
Assume a round chair–Eero Aarnio and the 60´s. Kunsthalle Helsinki, University of Art and Design, Helsinki 2003
Eero Aarnio. Fang Hai. Southeast University Press, China 2003
Eero Aarnio, Kaj Frank Design Prize. Design Forum Finland 2008
I Protagonisti del Design/Eero Aarnio. Hachette, Italy 2011
A = 4 π r2 Eero Aarnio. Design Forum, Finland 2014
Eero Aarnio-Värin ja ilon muotoilija. (Eero Aarnio-Designer of Colour and Joy). WSOY, Finland 2016.
