Aino Marsio-Aalto, within the modern movement in architecture and together with her contemporaries Margarete Schütte Lihotzky and Lilly Reich, in Germany, or Charlotte Perriand, in France, are the ones who introduced a revolutionary advance in the concept of understanding kitchens and their design. The compact and functional kitchen as we know it today (and its build-in evolution in the 21st century), is a reflection of these architects' concern for a freer life for women. At the same time, in this period, we find Truus Schröder, co-author, together with Gerrit Rietveld, of the famous Schröeder house, Eileen Gray's E-102 house, Lilly Reich, a teacher at the Bauhaus school and co-author together with Mies Van der Rohe, of architectural and furniture works, the Finnish Elissa Mäkiniemi, Ragna Grubb in Denmark, interested in social housing, and the Chinese-American Anne Tyng, co-author with Louis Kahn of the most significant buildings of the Kahn office in the 1950s in the USA, among others.
Aino María Marsio-Aalto
(Aino Aalto)
Helsinki 25-01-1894 | Helsinki 13-01-1949
Period of activity: From 1920 until 1946
Geographical classification: Europe > Finland
Socio-cultural movements
Late modern period / Contemporary period > Artistic movements since the end of the 19th century > Rationalist architecture / Modern movement
Groups by dedication
Technologists > Architects
Technologists > Object designers
Context of feminine creation
Review
Aino Marsio-Aalto played a key role in the modern architecture of her country, Finland, and in the work of her husband, Alvar Aalto.
Her interest in utilitarian, functional, practical issues, natural materials and mass-produced objects stands out.
Her concern for economic issues derived from mass production, economy, storage, stacking, and durable and affordable materials, led her to design objects without a strong aesthetic flair, so her works are framed within rationalist functionalism and set the precedents for industrial design.
Justifications
Biography
Aino Marsio-Aalto was one of the most important Finnish architects of the first half of the 20th century. Her professional career developed in the studio of Alvar Aalto, with whom she shared her professional and personal life until her death in 1949. Like many famous architectural couples, Aino Marsio-Aalto remained in the background, although she was a collaborator and co-author of many architecturally significant works, which history assigns only to her husband and partner Alvar Aalto.
Aino Maria Marsio was born in 1894 in Helsinki into a proletarian family and she spent her childhood in residential complexes for railway families. In 1920, she graduated as an architect from the Helsinki University of Technology and worked for Oiva Kallio in Helsinki. As a student, she worked as an apprentice in carpentry and bricklaying, which gave her a great knowledge for detail. Around 1923, she worked in the studio of Gunnar A. Wahroos in Jyväsylä. In 1924, she entered Alvar Aalto's studio, also in Jyväsylä, and married him six months later. From that moment on, they worked as a team, with her being the co-director of the studio. Alvar Aalto's relationship with Aino was one of devotion and great dependence. Nothing could be done in the studio without Aino's approval.
In the Aalto studio, Aino focused on smaller scale works, architectural and interior design projects, her preferred fields being single-family residential architecture, minimal flats, furniture design, and the design of utilitarian objects. She also develops designs independently. In 1930, the Aaltos exhibited at the Minimum Apartment Exhibition in Helsinki, where they presented a flat designed for modern life, influenced by social transformation and the new role of women in society. In that flat, they redesigned every aspect of the domestic environment with a modern vision. Aino Aalto designed the famous "minimal kitchen", which was the most interesting and innovative element of the whole house. Largely influenced by the Frankfurt Kitchen, designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in 1926, its design was time- and space-saving and was intended for easy cleaning, thanks to the sturdy, continuous surfaces.
Aino Marsio-Aalto designed several glass household objects for the Finnish company Iittala on her own. Her best known design is the Bölgeblick glass series, conceived in 1932, for which she won the Gold Medal for Design at the 6th Milan Triennale in 1936. In 1935, together with Alvar Aalto and the Gullchsen couple Nils - Gustav Hahl (clients of the studio), Aino founded the company Artek (https://www.artek.fi), a firm dedicated to the creation of lighting and furniture accessories combining art and technology (hence the name). From its creation, Aino was always involved in the development of the company, first as its creative director and, from 1941, as its managing director, until her death in 1949. She was who laid the foundations for the aesthetics of Artek, which combined the idea of modernity in a clear form with simple surface ornamentation, concepts based on the use of natural materials, clear design lines, clear solutions, international spirit and modern art. Artek was Aino Marsio-Aalto's main interest.
In 1936 she collaborated with her husband in the design of the famous Savoy Glass, a design classic, for the Savoy Restaurant. In 1938, the couple entered the Finnish Pavilion competition for the New York World's Fair separately. Aino came third, whilst Alvar obtained both first prizes. In the end, the pavilion was built with ideas from all three proposals. Aino Marsio and Alvar Aalto had two children: Johanna "Hanni" Alanen, born in 1925, and Hamilkar Aalto, born in 1928.
In 1949 Aino died of cancer at the age of 55. Alvar Aalto always acknowledged the work of Aino Marsio-Aalto and the drawings are named after both of them. History has forgotten Aino, as the works of both were always attributed to Alvar alone.
Works
English
Spanish
Circa 1926: Parish, Pöytyä, Finland
1926-1938: Villa Flora, Alajärvi, Finland. The Aalto's countryside house
1928-1933: Antituberculosis sanatorium, Paimo, Finland
1930: Kitchen for the minimal apartment in the “Exposition of the Minimal Apartment in the Art Hall of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
1932: Design, on her own, of the glass series Bölgeblick
1935-1936: Alvar Aalto's house and study, Helsinki, Finlandi
1937-1938: Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finlandi
1938-1939: Finland's Wing at the Universal Exposition
Bibliography
Marciani, Florencia. “Aino Aalto, 1849-1949”, 12/11/2021, en Un Dia una Arquitecta (en red, <https://undiaunaarquitecta.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/aino-aalto-1894-1949/>)
Sieira, José M. “Aino Marsio Aalto fue una diseñadora y arquitecta tras un Icono”, 12/11/2021, en AD, <https://www.revistaad.es/diseno/iconos/articulos/aino-marsio-aalto-fue-disenadora-arquitecta-tras-icono/23785>
Alvar Aalto Foundation, 12/11/2021, <https://www.alvaraalto.fi/en/>
Wikiwand, 12/11/2021, (en red, <https://www.wikiwand.com/es/Artek_(muebles)>)
Fernández-Galiano, Luis. “Alvar Aalto”, 12/11/2021, en Fundación Juan March,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnQ5dLObhBY>
Didactic approach
She can also be studied on the following subjects:
Visual and plastic arts.
Design
Architecture
Art