Eero Aarnio

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.