Artek

Artek may refer to:

Artek (company)

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 Artek and both companies are all part of Vitra (furniture). Artek have their own in-house designers, the most well-known of the being Ben af Schulten. The studio was originally set up ostensibly to assist Aalto's architects' office with interior designs for his buildings. Since Aalto's death in 1976 the company has sold design objects by other Finnish designers, such as Juha Leiviskä and Eero Aarnio, as well as Vitra furniture.

Artek (camp)

Artek (Cyrillic: Арте́к) is an international children center (a former Young Pioneer camp) on the Black Sea in the town of Hurzuf located on the Crimean peninsula, near Ayu-Dag. It was established on June 16, 1925.

The camp first hosted only 80 children but then grew rapidly. In 1969 it had an area of 3.2 km². The camp consisted of 150 buildings, including three medical facilities, a school, the film studio Artekfilm, three swimming pools, a stadium with a seating capacity of 7,000, and playgrounds for various other activities. Unlike most of the young pioneer camps, Artek was an all-year camp, due to the warm climate.

Artek was considered to be a privilege for Soviet children during its existence, as well as for children from other communist countries. During its heyday, 27,000 children a year vacationed at Artek. Between 1925 and 1969 the camp hosted 300,000 children including more than 13,000 children from 70 foreign countries. After the breaking up of the Young Pioneers in 1991 its prestige declined, though it remained a popular vacation destination.