The 401 Chair was designed by Alvar Aalto in 1932 and has a cantilevered shape to support the back and neck.
![Aalto armchair 401: Photo from the side of a dark-cushioned, light-wood armchair.](https://www.idesign.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Immagine-2022-03-13-164857.png)
image source: https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/furniture-chairs-armchairs-lounge-chairs-aalto-armchair-401-black-p-6622.html
The Designer
Alvar Aalto was a highly talented architect and an eager spokesman for the international modernist movement. His designs were innovative, radical, and became known for their experimental approach to bending wood, which greatly influenced American designers Charles & Ray Eames and Finnish-born Eero Saarinen. Further, his style was known as humanist-modernism. Alvar Aalto’s dialogue with nature, architecture, design and the human became a living legacy.
![Alvar Aalto candid photo: Black and white photo of the designer looking at the camera.](https://www.idesign.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Immagine-2022-03-13-164908.png)
image source:https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/furniture-chairs-armchairs-lounge-chairs-aalto-armchair-401-black-p-6622.html
Chair Characteristics
The 401 Chair is a high-backed classic armchair. As other pieces of furniture designed by Aalto, the furniture piece has an L- construction.
![Aalto armchair 401 in three different colors.](https://www.idesign.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Immagine-2022-03-13-164918.png)
image source: https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/furniture-chairs-armchairs-lounge-chairs-aalto-armchair-401-black-p-6622.html
To bend the leg, a piece of straight, solid birch open at the end in the direction of the fibers, to form the shape of a fan. Further, thin pieces of plywood are then glued in the grooves. In addition, the structure makes it possible to bend the wood by heating or steaming the desired angle and when dry it will have a very strong texture.
![Artek Aalto armchair 401, black Aalto armchair 401 shown placed in a living room space.](https://www.idesign.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Immagine-2022-03-13-164929.png)
![Artek Aalto armchair 401, black Aalto armchair 401, additional photo of the chairs placed in a living room.](https://www.idesign.wiki/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Immagine-2022-03-13-164937.png)
images source: https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/furniture-chairs-armchairs-lounge-chairs-aalto-armchair-401-black-p-6622.html
Dimensions
- Width: 62.5 cm
- Depth: 80 cm
- Seat height: 40 cm
- Height:105 cm
info source:
https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/furniture-lounge-poufs-artek-401-aalto-armchair-401-p-6622.html
https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/furniture-lounge-poufs-artek-401-aalto-armchair-401-p-6622.html