Huonekalutehdas Korhonen Oy, formerly called O.Y. Huonekalu- ja Rakennustyötehdas A.B is a former

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

producer located in

Littoinen Littoinen ( Finnish; ''Littois'' in Swedish) is a village in south-western Finland, centred on ''Lake Littoinen'' ( fi, Littoistenjärvi, sv, Littois träsk). The village is shared between the town of Kaarina and the municipality of Lieto, an ...

Kaarina Kaarina (; sv, S:t Karins, i.e. " Saint Catherine's") is a small town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region and is a neighbouring town of Turku, which is the capital of Southwest Finland, therefore Kaarina ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The company was once known for manufacturing

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

designed furniture. The company was started in 1910 when Otto Korhonen and three other

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

s bought Puuseppien Osuuskunta ("Carpenters' Co-operative") based in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, then the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...

. Its portfolio comprised doors, windows and furniture which were produced in facilities located in Uudenmaankatu 7. The company was registered as Huonekalu- ja Rakennustyötehdas in 1912. At the end of the 1920s Otto Korhonen partnered with architect Alvar Aalto. Aalto had recently gotten into two large projects: the Southwestern Agricultural Cooperative Building in Turku and the

Paimio Sanatorium Paimio Sanatorium ( fi, Paimion parantola, sv, Pemars sanatorium) is a former tuberculosis sanatorium in Paimio, Southwest Finland, designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Aalto received the design commission having won the architectural ...

. The sanatorium was the most significant collaborative project between Korhonen and Aalto. Aalto designed the building itself; he and Korhonen designed a range of armchairs and tables for the facility's personnel and patients. Huonekalu- ja Rakennustyötehdas manufactured the furniture and other interior elements. The Paimio Sanatorium project represents the introduction of Aalto's stackable furniture designs which later influenced the American designers

Charles and Ray Eames Charles Eames ( Charles Eames, Jr) and Ray Eames ( Ray-Bernice Eames) were an American married couple of industrial designers who made significant historical contributions to the development of modern architecture and furniture through the work of ...

.Paimio chair
in MOMA collection In the 1930s Huonekalu- ja Rakennustyötehdas developed a special wood bending method. Aalto used the technique extensively: his "Y-leg", introduced in 1947, and his "X-leg" that followed in 1954 are notable examples. The bent wooden parts became distinguishing features in many Aalto furniture designs, such as "Stacking Stool Model 60" and "Tea Trolley Model 98". In 1966 the company was renamed Huonekalutehdas Korhonen Oy. During the subsequent decades, the company's portfolio was largely based on Aalto's design classics. Korhonen's furniture production was sold to Artek, a subsidiary of Vitra, in 2014 and continues in Littoinen under the new name.

References

External links

1931 Stackable chair
from Oy Huonekalu-ja Rakennustyötehdas in the collection of the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

Otto Korhonen and Alvar Aalto
on

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huonekalu- ja Rakennustyotehdas Oy 20th century in Turku Manufacturing companies of Finland Manufacturing companies established in 1912 1912 establishments in Finland Design companies established in 1912