Aino Mandelin was born in
Helsinki. Her family lived in a co-operative apartment building in Helsinki where she was introduced to neighboring master carpenters and joiners whom she later apprenticed for. Aino completed her school education in 1913 at the Helsingin Suomalainen Tyttökoulu (Helsinki Finnish Girls' School). She began studies in architecture that same year at the
Institute of Technology, Helsinki, and qualified as an architect in 1920. Aino graduated with a handful of other female architects including
Salme Setälä. She also met her future husband,
Alvar Aalto, when they were both students. Aino was the head designer of Artek and later became the managing director. In the early years of Artek, furniture designs and standards were created and revised by Aino and of the hundreds of designs, only a few are by Alvar Aalto. She also oversaw commissions for interiors, lighting, screens, textiles and other household objects. Under Aino's leadership Artek completed more than eighty interiors. glass designed by Aino Aalto Aino Aalto also designed several glassware objects for the Finnish company
Iittala, who made household objects. Her most famous glass design is still on sale, and slightly different copies made by companies such as
IKEA are widespread. Aalto's "Bölgeblick" design serves as inspiration for a line of dinnerware produced by Iittala. She also collaborated with her husband on the design of the celebrated
Savoy Vase in 1936. Aalto worked in the Artek office until 1949, when she died of cancer. Aino set the tone for the Artek's creative and commercial approach which is still intact. In 2004 an exhibition and book (edited by Ulla Kinnunen) was arranged at the
Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä, Finland, featuring the life's work of Aino Aalto. == Exhibitions ==