Vitra Miniature Art. 41 Paimio Chair

Vitra Miniatures Collection.

The Paimio chair (model 41), paved the way for the Scandinavian influence on international design. The best-known piece of furniture designed by Alvar Aalto, it is named after the town in southwestern Finland for which Aalto designed a tuberculosis sanatorium and all its furnishings in 1930-1931. He designed the chair’s contours to help patients sit in such a way to breathe easier. He felt the use of birch wood was psychologically appropriate in an environment for sick people. For him, wood was "the form-inspiring, deeply human material". Admired as much for its sculptural elegance as for its comfort, the Paimio Chair is a tour de force in bent wood that seems to test the limits of plywood manufacturing. The chair's framework consists of two closed loops of laminated wood, forming arms, legs, and floor runners, between which rides the seat, a thin sheet of plywood tightly bent at both top and bottom into sinuous scrolls, giving it greater resiliency. 

• Design: Alvar Aalto
• Year: 1930/31
• Material: plywood seat, laminated frame, lacquered.
• Dimensions: scale 1:6, 4" x 4" x 5.75"