This autumn, Millesgården Museum (Stockholm, Sweden) presents a major design exhibition showcasing two groundbreaking pioneers of 20th-century design – the iconic duo Aino and Alvar Aalto. As one of the century’s most influential creative partnerships, they worked side by side in a collaboration defined by complete equality until Aino’s death in 1949. Together they laid the foundation for a design language where aesthetics, functionality, and human values were seamlessly combined – from the soft, organic lines of their product design to holistic environments shaped by sustainability and social responsibility. The exhibition presents a wide selection from the world’s largest private Aalto collection of furniture, glassware, lighting, and prototypes – all displayed in an inspiring and spatially designed narrative about a visionary duo who helped shape our idea of Scandinavian design.

Millesgården Museum will present AALTO – Aino & Alvar in autumn 2025, highlighting two iconic figures in the history of 20th-century design and architecture. The exhibition explores their collaboration, their work with sustainability and social issues, and their guiding principle of beauty, form, and function.

More than 200 objects from collector Pertti Männistö’s private Aalto collection – the most extensive of its kind – will be shown, including both classics and unique pieces. The collection ranges from iconic handcrafted objects from the 1920s to the mid-1960s, before production became mechanised, as well as several prototypes offering insight into the Aaltos’ collaboration and creative process. Visitors will also encounter fully furnished interiors, such as a wartime living room decorated with Aalto furniture and a 1950s urban Finnish apartment designed by Artek – the interior design company founded in 1935 by, among others, the Aaltos, with Aino as Artistic Director and CEO.

The exhibition emphasises the couple’s working method – a seamless collaboration in which architectural solutions merged with interiors and product design. Alvar often oversaw the architectural aspects, while Aino led the design of interiors and material choices. Together they created a holistic concept – the organic and human-centred “Aalto style” that became their shared hallmark. Among their joint projects were the world-renowned Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, the Paimio Sanatorium, and Restaurant Savoy in Helsinki.

The wave motif – visible in Alvar’s architecture, in the famous Savoy Vase, and in Aino’s Bölgeblick glassware series – recurs throughout the exhibition. Fittingly, the Finnish word aalto means “wave,” a symbol of their shared design philosophy.