Artek Aalto table 83, wild birch

Table 83 is Alvar Aalto’s timeless design from 1935. Like other Artek tables, this large, rectangular dining table is also based on the combination of Alvar Aalto’s famous L-legs and the tabletop. Aalto introduced the bent L-leg for the first time in 1933, and it became a standard component in his furniture designs.

Aalto table 83 celebrates the authentic beauty of birch wood: this bench is made of so-called wild birch that shows the material’s natural variation in its entirety. By using “wild birch”, Artek wishes to challenge our expectations of visual uniformity in natural materials and to spark conversation about the need for a new, more sustainable esthetic. Due to climate change, Finnish wood nowadays has more color variations than before, as well as marks left by insects previously unseen in Finnish forests. These marks or knots do not affect the durability or usability of the wood but are only esthetic limitations.