The Finnish designer Eero Aarnio wa born in 1932 and studied from 1954 to 1957 at the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki.
In the late fifties he worked with the Finnish designer Ilmari Tapiovaara, and in 1960 he started working for the Asko Company.
In 1962 Aarnio established his own office as an interior and industrial designer.
He started working with plastics in 1960, creating two of the most famous chairs of the decade, the Ball Chair or Globe Chair (1963) and the Pastilli Chair or Gyro Chair for which he was awarded an American Industrial Design-Award (A.I.D.).
Material (fibreglass) and shape of the Ball Chair were complete novelties for that time's furniture industry. The fibreglass ball is build on a metal swiveling base, and upholstered with foam/fibrefill.
Eero Aarnio was - and still is - one of the pioneers in using plastic in industrial design. Plastic material set the designers free to create every shape and use every color they wanted. This gave birth to objects oscillating between function and fun, but always fascinating ones.
Aarnio has now returned to traditional materials like wood.
Germany
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