Press release -
Exhibition about Eero Aarnio opens 8 February
February 8, during Stockholm Design Week, the exhibition by and about Finnish interior designer Eero Aarnio opens at Nationalmuseum Design. Aarnio is one of the best-known figures internationally in the history of modern Finnish design with experimental designs and futuristic reinforced plastic chairs. A press preview will be held on 8 February at 10 am.
The exhibition presents one of the foremost design icons, who for more than seven decades has been pushing the boundaries of what a piece of furniture can be and what it can look like. Throughout his design career, Eero Aarnio (born 1932) has experimented with form and materials, techniques and production processes. Back in 1966, he became an international sensation overnight following the unveiling of his Ball Chair at the Cologne Furniture fair.
Five themes in the exhibition – Artefacts, Mind, Time, Process and Manufacturing – mirror Aarnio’s wilful and playful working methods, design processes and production methods. The exhibition features some of the designer’s best-known pieces from the 1960s and 1970s alongside artefacts and furniture created in the 21st century for the Magis and Alessi brands.
The exhibition is produced by the Design Museum in Helsinki, where it appeared in the summer and autumn of 2016. In true Eero Aarnio fashion, the staging is playful and experimental. Some of the podiums travel around the exhibition space, while others revolve slowly on their axis. Besides the artefacts themselves, rarely seen original sketches and documents from Aarnio’s desk and the factory production lines will shed further light on the design process.
Curator: Suvi Saloniemi, Design Museum, Helsinki
Exhibition design: Ville Kokkonen and Florencia Colombo
Robotic technology: GIM Robotics Ltd, Finland
Eero Aarnio will be on show at Nationalmuseum Design, located inside Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm, from 8 February to 23 April 2017.
Press preview
Media is invited to a press preview on 8 February 10 am. The exhibition will be presented by curator Suvi Saloniemi from Designs Museum in Helsinki with Eero Aarnio present. RSVP by 6 February to press@nationalmuseum.se.
Guided Tours
During Stockholm Design Week there will be guided tours of the exhibition on 9 February at 14.00 (in English), 10 February at 14.00 (in Swedish) and 12 February at 14.00 (in Swedish).
Press contact
Hanna Tottmar, Press Officer: press@nationalmuseum.se, +46 767 23 46 32
Caption
Interior from the exhibition Eero Aarnio at Design Museum in Helsinki. Photo: Paavo Lehtonen.
Nationalmuseum is Sweden’s premier museum of art and design. The collections comprise older paintings, sculpture, drawings and graphic art, and applied art and design up to the present day. The museum building is currently under renovation and scheduled to open again in 2018. In the meantime, the museum will continue its activities through collaborations both in Sweden and abroad as well as temporary exhibitions at Nationalmuseum Design at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm. Nationalmuseum has partnerships with Svenska Dagbladet and the Grand Hôtel Stockholm, and acknowledges the support of FCB Fältman & Malmén.
