Our Artek trip: the Aalto House

Last month we were invited to visit the beautiful brand Artek in Helsinki - Finland. Jantine and I have been on such trips before, mostly to Copenhagen. Helsinki was a first so kind of exciting for us! With that, Artek is a brand that we admire very much so being able to learn more about the history of Alvar Aalto made us even more excited and curious.

We visited several places: the Artek factory, the Paimio Sanatorium, the Artek headoffice, the Artek flagship store, the Aalto Studio en the Aalto House.

Today I will tell you about our experience in the Aalto House. Later we will share more about the studio and about Helsinki itself. - Vivian

If you’re a design lover and decide to go to Helsinki, be aware that you will schedule a full day for the Aalto house and studio, it’s worth it!

Visit Alvar Aalto’s home on a guided tour, you will get so much extra information, really worth it! The history and architecture of Aalto’s unique home, located in Munkkiniemi area in Helsinki, opens up through the stories the guide has to share. The tour lasts an hour and includes both the guided tour itself and free time to enjoy the special atmosphere in the house.

The house is divided into a workspace used by Alvar Aalto’s architectural firm and the couple’s private residence. Simple and natural materials soften the design language of the building’s modern architecture. Aalto’s office was located in this building until 1955, but his second wife lived their until the 1994!

The black and white images are from the 1930’s. The colored ones we shot ourselves during our trip. I really like to see the black and white images, compared with the images we shot. The building is designed like it’s build nowadays, very contemporary and timeless.

Find out more about Alvar Aalto via the Artek website.