Finished in 1939, Aino and Alvar Aalto’s modernist masterpiece became a symbol of Artek’s ongoing quest to merge function with artistic expression in the home.
“It will indeed be a good house, you will see.”
Harry Gullichsen said this to his wife upon seeing photographs of their new home while at the New York World Fair in 1939. Time would prove him correct. Maire Gullichsen later referred to Villa Mairea, the house designed and built by Alvar and Aino Aalto, as “her greatest love”.
Villa Mairea is perhaps the most authentic realisation of the Aaltos’ commitment to merging function with artistic expression in the home. Aino Aalto’s interiors are a distillation of what has come to be seen as the Artek design philosophy, in which warmth and comfort are prioritised, and no function deemed too minor in the quest for aesthetic pleasure.
Expression through function and art
The Aaltos were given free rein in many aspects of the design, but they worked closely with the Gullichsens throughout the process. Maire and Harry Gullichsen were progressive advocates of modern living, and Mairea is as representative of their own tastes as those of the Aaltos.
The shared goal of both couples was to create a home in which modern aesthetics existed in an environment that celebrated beauty in the everyday. Alvar Aalto referred to Villa Mairea as a “symphonic entity”, with the building, interior, furniture, lighting and materials coming together to form a total work of art. A collage of different features and influences fills the space, where connected living areas still maintain their own distinct identities.
Natural materials from around the world
Immediately upon entering the home, one is aware of the dialogue that is taking place between the objects and the space they inhabit. The entry hall features a mobile by modernist artist Alexander Calder hanging above, while the wooden staves that line the stairs reference the Japanese architectural aesthetics that Alvar Aalto so admired. Moroccan carpets cover the ground floor area, creating a soothing tactility while also muffling sound across the large open areas.
The quality of the natural materials in Villa Mairea gives the interior a welcoming atmosphere that belies its relatively grand scale. The woodwork of both the building structure and the furniture is of the highest quality, complemented by carefully selected materials such as leather, bast, bamboo and glass. Much of the furniture and lighting that fills the house was designed specifically for the space by Aino Aalto, with some of the specially commissioned pieces, such as the Lounge Chair 506 “Mairea”, becoming standard furniture products that were sold by Artek for many years.
More than eighty years after it was built, Villa Mairea is widely recognised as a modernist architectural masterpiece. It continues to be enjoyed as a family home by the descendants of Maire and Harry Gullichsen and is largely unchanged from the original, which is a testament to the timeless nature of the aesthetic created by the Aaltos that continues to drive Artek to this day.
Image from Villa Mairea Archives / Photographer: Jarno Kylmänen
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