Aalto Benches

Origin

Aalto Benches is the Artek collection of benches by Alvar Aalto. Artek gives the year 1945 for the collection and lists four benches: Bench 153A, Bench 168B, Bench 167 and Bench 153B, each shown with Alvar Aalto and 1945. It adds that the benches are now offered in two larger new sizes and with new seat options, and it files Bench 167 and Bench 168 under that heading. Bench 153A and Bench 153B are placed in the L-leg collection and dated to 1945.

Design Language

Artek calls the benches functional and versatile and credits them with the strength of Finnish birch together with its warm organic qualities. It says they pair naturally with tables and with other forms of seating, and that one bench can serve as seating, storage or display. Artek sums up their build as light to move yet sturdy over years of service.

Aalto's L-leg system attaches the legs straight to the seat, with no complicated connectors. Three kinds of top appear across the collection: a slatted top on Bench 153A and Bench 153B, a solid top on Benches 153A, 153B and 168B, and an upholstered top in leather or fabric on Benches 168B and 167. Artek names solid birch for the legs of all four, birch veneer or solid birch for the seat surfaces of the slatted and solid tops, and fabric or leather upholstery on PU foam padding for the upholstered tops. Bench 153B has a seat of solid birch with vertical recesses, Bench 167 has a seat core of birch plywood, and Bench 168B has a core of solid birch, birch plywood and honeycomb. Artek states Finland as the place of manufacture for all four.

Key Pieces

• Bench 153A (1945), slatted or solid top
• Bench 153B (1945), slatted or solid top
• Bench 168B (1945), solid or upholstered top
• Bench 167 (1945), upholstered top