Eero Aarnio (born July 21, 1932) is a Finish furniture and interior designer. He is well known for his innovative designs using plastic and fiberglass. Aarnio studied at the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki from 1954 – 1957. He established his own office in 1962 doing interior design, industrial design and graphic design. Probably the most popular of Eero Aarnio designs is the Ball Chair – a hollow sphere set on a stand, giving a person who sits in it a very private atmosphere. He designed it for himself, but when visitors from Asko Furniture Company noticed it while on a meeting at Aarnio’s house, it was put in to production. Very similar Bubble Chair is made of clear acrylic and is suspended from above.
Aarnio received the American Industrial Design award in 1968 for his Pastil Chair, as well as many other awards around the world. Eero Aarnio’s designs have very simple geometric forms and have been used in many sets of science-fiction films.