Biography

Ilmari Tapiovaara, Finland (1914-1999)

The modernist designer Ilmari Tapiovaara was born in 1914 in Hämeenlinna, Finland. He studied interior design and industrial design at the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki where he graduated in 1937. From 1935 to 1936, while still a student, he worked for Alvar Aalto in the offices from Artek to London. After completing his studies, Tapiovaara worked for 6 months in Paris, as an assistant, in the offices of the modernist architect, Le Corbusier. The following year, he became the artistic director of Asko Oy, the largest furniture manufacturer of the time in Finland, where he stayed for three years. From 1941 to 1951, he was the artistic and commercial director of the cabinet making factory in Keravan Puuteollisuus.

Tapiovaara is intensively exhibiting and winning several awards, including gold medals for her chairs at the Milan Triennale in 1951, 1954, 1957, and 1960; at the Good Design in Chicago in 1950, and at the Finnish State Design in 1971, he received an award from the Finnish Culture Foundation in 1986 and the Furniture Prize from the SIO Interior Architects’ Association of Finland in 1990.

Ilmari Tapiovaara dies in 1999. In 2014, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, the Designmuseo of Helsinki presents a retrospective of his work, including furniture and drawings.