A retrospective of work by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio, a pioneer of high-quality plastic furniture and creator of some of the most iconic chairs of the 1960s, has opened at the Helsinki Design Museum. Dezeen spoke to the exhibition's curator about how Aarnio broke with the "traditional Bauhaus Nordic functional style" (+ movie).
The exhibition coincides with Aarnio's 84th birthday and celebrates his 50-year long career, which began during the 1960s in a period of political progression and economic expansion in Finland.
"He has been, from the very beginning of his career, internationally orientated," curator Suvi Saloniemi told Dezeen. "His style has been in a way non-nationalistic, it hasn't followed the traditional Bauhaus Nordic functional style. He has always thought about the design world internationally from the very beginning."
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"The first groundbreaking piece from him was a chair that took the shape of a ball," said Saloniemi. "That is quite something if you compare it with Alvar Aalto and the Modernist heritage."
Aarnio was born in Helsinki in 1932, where he studied at the Institute of Industrial Arts before founding his interiors and industrial design firm in 1962. His company is now based in Veikkola, Finland.
His futuristic-looking plastic furniture focuses on simple geometric shapes, including the iconic Ball Chair and the transpar...