Maire Gullichsen in the context of "Art collector"

Aino Maria Marsio-Aalto (born Aino Maria Mandelin; 25 January 1894 – 13 January 1949) was a Finnish architect and a pioneer of Scandinavian design. She is known as the design partner of architect Alvar Aalto, with whom she worked for 25 years, and as a co-founder with him, Maire Gullichsen, and Nils-Gustav Hahl of the design company Artek, collaborating on many its most well-known designs. As Artek's first artistic director, her creative output spanned textiles, lamps, glassware, and buildings. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and MoMA has included her work in nine exhibitions, the first of which was Aalto: Architecture and Furniture in 1938. Other major exhibitions were at the Barbican Art Gallery in London and Chelsea Space in London. Aino Aalto has been exhibited with Pablo Picasso.

Artek is a Finnish furniture company. It was founded in December 1935 by architect Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino Aalto, visual arts promoter Maire Gullichsen and art historian Nils-Gustav Hahl. The founders chose a non-Finnish name: the neologism Artek was meant to manifest the desire to combine art and technology. This echoed a main idea of the International Style movement, especially the Bauhaus, to emphasize the technical expertise in production and quality of materials, instead of historical-based, eclectic or frivolous ornamentation.

The original aim of the venture was to promote the furniture and glassware of Alvar Aalto and Aino Aalto, and to produce furnishings for their buildings. Before 1935 the Aaltos' designs were manufactured by Huonekalu-ja Rakennustyötehdas Oy in Turku. That company was renamed Huonekalutehdas Korhonen Oy and moved to Littoinen, but now both companies are owned by Vitra (furniture). Artek have their own in-house designers, such as Ben af Schulten. Originally, the studio was set up ostensibly to assist Aalto's architects' office with interior designs for his buildings. Since Aalto's passing in 1976 the company has sold design objects by other Finnish designers, such as Juha Leiviskä, Ilmari Tapiovaara, and Eero Aarnio. Other non-Finnish designers affiliated with Vitra, like the Bouroullec brothers, work with Artek as well if their designs are found to fit within the Artek portfolio. Artek currently operates three stores: a main store and a 2nd Cycle showroom in Helsinki, and a store in Tokyo.