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Alvar Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland in 1908, and he lived until 1976. He was a renowned Finnish architect and designer of furniture. His studies led him to architectural school in Helskini, where he graduated in 1921. However, his career did not begin well in Helskini, and so he moved on to a smaller town to start an office and begin his career.

To assist him, Alvar employed a young woman who designed glass and furniture and whom he later married. There were two children from this marriage. Aalto continued his design career in Finland, and created a number of renowned landmarks in the 20's and 30's. In the latter part of the 1940's, he taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among his most renowned furniture (finska möbler) items are his highly esteemed tables and lighting fixtures.

Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen as well as Nils-Gustav Hahl established a business to craft furnishings. Alvar came up with the design for many timeless Aalto furnishings which include tables, desks, occasional chairs, loungers, foot stools, arm chairs and kid's furnishings. Alvar styled his first light fixture when he was a pupil at the college of technology in Helsinki where he was awarded first place in a lighting contest in 1920. The surname Aalto is yet greatly recognized in the realm of light fixtures as he styled many various timeless lamp designs which are regarded as contemporary these days as when they were first introduced.

Before he even graduated, Alvar Aalto began designing his first furniture. Once in his new architecture office, he received a huge order to design furniture for six churches in Finland. He designed the well known Paimio Sanatorium in 1929. He also designed each piece of furniture in the structure, as well as the lamps. For each structure he designed, he also designed custom "Aalto tables (Aalto bord)" and other furniture for it.

At this time he started to patent his methods for bending wood and he was awarded several patents in many countries for this new form of laminated bent-plywood furniture. The Alvar Aalto 901 tea cart is famous for this bent wood construction along with various chairs and Aalto tables. Together with other famous designers such as Bruno Mathsson and Yngve Ekstrom, Aalto became renowned for this style of furniture design which contributed greatly to the concept of "Scandinavian Modern" design.

Alvar Aalto named his approach "Organic Functionalism" and as the one who established Modernism within the nordic regions has left an important legacy on the realm of furniture motifs and structural design. Aalto and his spouse also created well-known glassware patterns like the appropriately titled Aalto Vase (Aalto vas). It could be that his last tribute was the establishment of the Alvar Aalto Award by the Museum of Finnish Architecture as well as the Finnish Assoc. of Architects that is bestowed for important offerings to artistic structural design.

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Alvar Aalto was a famous Finnish architect and furniture designer. Among his most renowned furniture items are his highly esteemed tables and lighting fixtures. Alvar Aalto's stamp on the world was not limited to furniture (möbler) design; he is remembered as much for his lamp designs as for his classic tables, chairs, and children's furniture. He designed the well known Paimio Sanatorium in 1929, finishing the interior design (inredning) with his very own tables. The world of Aalto furniture design is described as "Organic Functionalism." Alvar Aalto is known today as the Father of Modernism.