Adjustable Desk Chair, Atvidabergs, Sweden, 1930s

Description: A black leather desk chair, produced by Normina, Denmark during the 1950s. With its spareness of line and neatly upholstered leather seat and back, this mahogany framed ...

A model 31 armchair designed by one of Finland's most prestigious Modernist designers and architects, Alvar Aalto. The model 31 was designed by Aalto during the 1930s whilst he was working alongside his wife and partner, Aino Aalto, on the Paimio Sanitorium. Aalto won the commission for the tuberculosis hospital in 1929, and over 4 years built a gesamtkunstwerk, "total work of art", dedicated to physical and mental wellness in every capacity possible. Aalto described the sanatorium itself as a "medical instrument", prioritising ventilation and heliotherapy (sun exposure), with furniture functioning a core part of this finely tuned instrument. The low seat and gently reclining form of the model 31 is indicative of the environment of restfullness which Aino and Aalto sought to construct at Paimio. Much like the eponymous "Paimio Chair", the most recognised design from the project, the model 31 shares the scroll-like expression created by the continuous seat and back. However, unlike the "Paimio Chair" the model 31 has a cantilevered construction created by the sweeping curves of the laminated birch frame, inspired by the original "Freischwinger" by Mart Stam from 1926. This particular armchair was once owned by British artist and designer, Max Clendinning, and his partner Ralph Adron...