NIKARI- Kari Virtanen & Alvar Aalto

THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM NIKARIS ORIGINAL POST HERE

Our reality is defined by a continuum. Generations learn from previous ones, grasping means and learning skills they carry along with them and then pass forward to the next ones. Styles repeat one another: the new ones are somehow inspired by the old ones, dressed in evolved ways to communicate aesthetically. Children adopt their parents’ ways like apprentices learn from their mentors. Nothing is born in a void: things are constantly changing in our world, and each change is linked to something old. Everywhere we look, there are endless chains that have roots somewhere far away in the past.

In 1967 Kari Virtanen was 19 years old and had just established his own woodworking studio in the old space of Nikkarinkoski joinery in Seinäjoki, Finland. Looking for his first jobs, Virtanen was contacted by Alvar Aalto‘s architecture studio. At this point Aalto’s works had been strongly noted and appreciated around the world. They represented modern design at its best.

The Alvar tray by Alvar Aalto is the oldest product in Nikari collection. The original Alvar trays are still in use in the Lakeuden Risti convention center they were made for.

Church Lakeuden Risti at Seinäjoki, Finland.