Artek + Moomin

The Unexpected Guest

Artek and Moomin both have reason to celebrate in 2025. Just as Artek turns 90, the 80th anniversary of Tove Jansson's first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood, is also being marked. The two companies are coming together for the occasion to raise a toast to shared values of inclusivity and togetherness. The Artek + Moomin collection consists of reinterpreted Aalto pieces featuring the Moomins in a refined yet playful form that will appeal to every generation that has grown up with Tove Jansson's timeless stories.

A special edition of Alvar Aalto's cabinet from 1936 returns, with an exterior that suggests festivity simply through its intended function of serving special gatherings. When opened, however, some unexpected guests joyfully appear in the form of Tove Jansson's Moomin characters who are illustrated all over the cabinet interior. Stool 60 also has its seat top and bentwood legs covered in illustrations of Moomintroll and his friends to evoke furtive scribbles under the school desk. The illustrations for both items are taken from early Moomin stories, and are applied in a nostalgic pen-drawn style that speaks of the playful nature of their creator. During her lifetime, Tove Jansson would leave such illustrations as spontaneous doodles in unexpected locations and correspondence with her cherished friends and family. They can even be found in the visitor book of Villa Mairea, the modernist masterpiece designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto for Artek co-founder Maire Gullichsen and her family.

The Artek + Moomin collection features Aalto furniture that was selected to be representative of Finnish hospitality at its best—when it is informal and impromptu. The versatile Stool 60 ensures there is always an extra seat at the table for anyone who happens to stop by, which is where the cabinet comes in. Part of the Artek collection for many years, it now returns after a hiatus. It was informally referred to as the "cocktail cabinet", though it is equally suited to other storage functions in the home.

Tove Jansson and Alvar Aalto occupied slightly different roles in Finnish public life, but they shared many of the values that are intrinsic to the Artek 90 celebrations.

The importance of the Finnish natural environment is evidenced in the use of Finnish birchwood throughout Artek's furniture range and in the Aaltos' architectural body of work, replacing metal with a natural material that adds human-centric warmth.

The world of the Moomins is one in which the characters live from season to season, finding joy in the everyday activities that nature provides. The idyllic natural landscapes are clearly representative of the natural world its author cherished so dearly, on her cottage in the southern Finnish archipelago. The fundamental Finnish communitarian pragmatism also runs through both creators' work: in Alvar Aalto's tireless output and receptiveness to the requirements of the user, and Tove Jansson's tales of practical life lessons found as Moomintroll and his beloved extended family go about their days.

Stool 60 "Celebration"

The anniversary edition Stool 60 Celebration by Artek + Moomin ensures there is always an extra seat at the table for any unexpected guest who happens to stop by. The stool has illustrations by Tove Jansson laser engraved onto the seat top and bentwood legs. The artwork is a mix of doodle-like line drawings combined with hand-written texts from Jansson's earliest notebooks and Moomin stories, reminiscent of furtive scribbles hidden under an old school desk.

To underline the nostalgic vintage character, the reinterpreted Aalto piece comes in a honey stain finish.

Cabinet 250 "Celebration"

Cabinet 250 Celebration marks the return of Alvar Aalto's classic "cocktail cabinet" from the archive as a limited special edition.

The cabinet's birch veneer body and solid birch legs have a honey stain finish, the elegant exterior suggesting festivity simply through its intended function of serving special gatherings. When opened, however, the cabinet reveals an enchanting element of surprise: some unexpected guests appear in the form of Tove Jansson's Moomin characters, who are illustrated all over the interior in a nostalgic pen-drawn style.

The artwork is a mix of doodle-like line drawings combined with hand-written texts from Jansson`s earliest notebooks and Moomin stories, giving the cabinet the feel of a truly customised piece.

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Footnotes: 
Text and Images: Artek