Märta Blomstedt

Märta Blomstedt was an architect and one of the driving forces of the Finnish functionalism movement.

She initially worked with her husband, the architect Pauli E. Blomstedt but she started a company and continues their projects with Matti Lampén after her husband’s death in 1935. She approached her projects holistically and designs all aspects of it, perhaps the best example being the Hotel Aulanko in Hämeenlinna, Finland. After Lampén’s passing, Blomstedt formed a partnership with Olli Penttilä and continued to work into the 1970s.

Märta Blomstedt (née von Willebrand) was born in 1899 in Turku and eventually graduated as an architect from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1922. Her graduation coincided with the advent of modern functionalism and she would get further influences from visits to Italy and France between 1924 and 1929. In 1924, she married her study partner and architect, Pauli E. Blomstedt and their two children were born the following years.

The couple began a partnership as independent architects in 1926 and started work on the Finnish Savings Bank in Helsinki in 1928. Before Pauli Blomstedt passed away, they completed the Kotka Savings Bank and began work on the Kannonkoski Church. Märta Blomstedt then worked with Lampén to complete several of the designs her husband had begun, including the Pohjanhovi Hotel in Rovaniemi, since destroyed in the war. In 1938, the two formed their own firm, Blomstedt & Lampén, their most famous work being Hotel Aulanko. The pair designed various scale projects ranging from city plans to residential buildings up until 1961, their final project being the International School in Oulu.

When Lampén died in 1961, Blomstedt created a new company, Blomstedt & Penttilä, with Olli Penttilä and they worked together for another 10 years.

Blomstedt passed away in 1982.

Hotel Aulanko

The hotel Aulanko was designed as a holistic work of art with the furnishings, dishes and textiles being a part of the building concept. The hotel was completed in 1939, a was a shining example of Finnish functionalism with furnishings by Artek, Taito and Stockmann. Märta Blomstedt contributed with a now highly sought after chair, although it has been disputed and attributed to Flemming Lassen as well. The chairs made for the hotel, approximately 30 specimens, were created by cabinet maker Arvo Laine in Hämeenlinna. The chair was updated with wooden ball legs in 1941 and there were many variations manufactured up until the 1950s.