Ilmari Tapiovaara

Yrjö Ilmari Tapiovaara (born September 7, 1914 in Tampere , Finland , † January 31, 1999 ) was a Finnish interior architect and designer.

The Domus chair designed by Tapiovaare

Table and benches designed by Tapiovaara

Two chairs and a stool designed by Tapiovaara

Tapiovaara is an important link in international design in the 20th century. Among other things, he worked in the offices of Alvar Aalto in London and Le Corbusier in Paris; his students in turn include Eero Aarnio and Yjrö Kukkapuro . As a visiting professor at the famous Illinois Institute of Technology , Tapiovaara also had close contact with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe .

Life

Ilmari Tapiovaara studied industrial design and interior design at the Institute for Industrial Design, the Taideteollisuuskeskuskoulu, in Helsinki . After graduating, he worked at Le Corbusier's Paris architecture firm before taking on artistic direction at the Asko furniture factory in Lahti, Finland . Around 1950 he founded a design studio together with his wife, the architect Annikki Tapiovaara , in which he then worked as a freelance designer. 1950–1953 he taught at the College of Art and Design, Taideteollinen Korkeakoulu, and was a visiting professor at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago . From 1959 to 1968 Tapiovaara was on the board of the Finnish Association for Design Ornamo, of which he was made an honorary member in 1978. 1965-1969 he taught interior design at the University of Technology in Helsinki. From 1974 to 1975 he was a consultant for the design and production of export furniture in Mauritius for the UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization).

Life's work

Ilmari Tapiovaaras put his artistic focus on the design and development of an exemplary multi-purpose chair . His seating furniture should be functional and dismountable. So he developed chairs that can be quickly dismantled into their components or stacked and transported. Well-known examples are his stacking chairs Lukki I (1952, for Lukkiseppo), and Wilhelmiina (1959). His most famous works include the "Domus" chair, the "Pirkka" seating group, the "Tale" stool and the "Mademoiselle" armchair. All of this furniture is now manufactured by Artek.

Ilmari Tapiovaara not only worked as a furniture designer, but was also creative in the fields of graphics, photography, interior design and architecture. He designed lamps, glassware, stainless steel cutlery, stereo systems, carpets, textiles, wallpaper and toys. Between 1951 and 1960, Ilmari Tapiovaara received six gold medals at the Milan Triennale for his designs - more than any other designer. In 1971 he received the Finnish State Prize for Design.