Aalto+Aalto

Elina Aalto and Klaus Aalto run a Helsinki design office whose output moves between products, spaces and exhibitions. The pair describe their aim as making special everyday objects with a strong identity and story, and their method leans on time-tested techniques, factories and flea markets as sources rather than on novelty for its own sake. That approach has produced work for IKEA (the METOD kitchen system), Arabia, Fiskars and Kekkilä, furniture such as the 5.1 MHz coat rack and Pot Steps, concepts for Helsinki World Design Capital 2012, and exhibition designs including William Morris and Craft Punk for Juha Vehmaanperä.

Their work has been widely exhibited and is held in the collections of the Design Museum in Helsinki and in Quebec; it has also received an iF golden product design award.