Finland 2014 The 100th Anniversary of the birth of designer and interior designer Ilmari Tapiovaara
The 100th Anniversary of the birth of designer and interior designer Ilmari Tapiovaara
After
studying industrial and interior design at the Central School of Applied Arts
in Helsinki, Ilmari Tapiovaara worked briefly in the office of Le Corbusier. In
the early 1940s, he designed several pieces of furniture for various Finnish
furniture manufacturers, including Asko and Keravan Puuteollisuus. By 1951 Tapiovaara
had set up his own studio with his wife Annikki.
In
1946 the couple was awarded the opportunity to design all furniture and
interiors for the Domus Academia, a new student-housing complex in Helskini.
The most successful product to come out the project was an elegant stacking
wooden chair. The design would catch Hans Knoll’s eye a few years later at an
exhibition in Chicago, and in 1951 he began importing the Domus Chair,
introduced to the Knoll catalog as the Model 140 series.
Tapiovaara
went on to teach at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and worked
for a time in the office of Mies van der Rohe. He is most recognized, however,
for his contributions in furniture, which he continued to design throughout his
career, working with Artek, Merva, Thonet, Schaman, Hackman, and Olivetti.
The
left inner part of the design shows Ilmari Tapiovaara’s name and years. The
right inner part of the design depicts a close-up from the furniture fitting
characteristic for Ilmari Tapiovaara. At the right the indication of the
issuing country ‘FI’, the mint mark and the year of issuance ‘2014’. The coin’s
outer ring bears the 12 stars of the European Union.
Weight -
8.5 g.
Quality - UNC (Uncirculated)
Diameter - 25.75 mm.
Composition - Bimetallic - nickel brass clad
nickel center in copper-nickel ring
Circulation - 1'000'000 pcs.
Country of origin - Finland
Year of release - 2014