How moving into the Sunila neighborhood designed by Alvar Aalto transformed Karri’s taste: ‘Interior design is a form of art’

A window connects the living room and kitchen. The pendant lamp is the JL341 designed by Juha Leiviskä for Artek, and the floor lamp is Paavo Tynell’s 9602 reissued by Gubi. The tablecloth is made from Alvar Aalto’s 14/6 fabric. The Dyyni rug by Finarte complements the ensemble.

You might imagine that only long-time Aalto enthusiasts would move to a factory area designed by Alvar Aalto. For Karri Laitinen, it was the other way around. He became captivated by Alvar and Aino Aalto only after he had already moved to Sunila, Kotka.

“A couple of years ago, I had three reasons to move: I needed a new home because I had just got divorced, my workplace is nearby, at the college in Inkeroinen, and my daughter wanted to attend high school here,” says Karri Laitinen.

Karri Laitinen says that Sunila is a surprisingly overlooked neighborhood. Now he is actively involved in the activities of the Pro Sunila association.

For part of the week, Karri and his daughter live in Loviisa with the family’s younger children. Karri describes the Sunila apartment not as a secondary home but as another equally important home—with a completely different atmosphere.

“Our home in Loviisa is one half of an old village school. I didn’t get familiar with Aalto yet while living there full-time, although we did have a few dining chairs designed by him.”

Since the previous furniture stayed in their other home, Karri had the chance to start decorating the three-room row-house apartment from scratch. It wasn’t obvious from the start what direction it would take.

“I went to buy a dining table at a furniture store with my younger daughter. We found a suitable one, but we would have had to wait for it. We came back home and ate on the floor. Then I looked on Tori and found an Alvar Aalto table—it was love at first sight.”

The staircase is a dominant feature in the living room. The chair with a rattan back is Aino Aalto’s model 615. The round table is an adaptation of Alvar Aalto’s Aurinko (‘Sun’) series. Karri chose the coffee table from BoConcept for its low height.

The shapes of the lower steps leave enough room for the back door to open properly.

After the dining table, Karri started looking for more works by Aino and Alvar Aalto.

“At first, they seemed pricey, but then I figured I could settle for old and worn, beautifully patinated pieces. From the internet and flea markets, I found used items for just a fraction of the prices of new ones.”

Karri still browses online daily, even though the home’s interior is complete. He’s already replaced some items.

“The first table I purchased was by Alvar; now, in the kitchen, there’s Aino’s extendable table from the 1940s. It’s my best find—it cost 80 euros at a flea market.”

Making good finds has required Karri to learn to identify even the smallest details of Artek furniture.

“In the dining table by Aino, the L-legs are at a 45-degree angle; in the one by Alvar, they are perpendicular,” he mentions an example of an easy rule.

In the extendable 1940s dining table by Aino Aalto, the L-legs are attached at a 45-degree angle. The chairs are model 66 by Alvar Aalto.

Karri has a collection of glasses by Aino Aalto, extending from the 1940s to more recent colors.

The home isn’t entirely Aalto, but Karri has begun to appreciate other similar designs from the 1930s to the 1970s. He sees in minimalist design what Kazimir Malevich’s painting Black Square brought to art.

“I became fascinated by simplicity—the functionalist idea that when you eliminate unnecessary ornamentation, you reveal practicality and the beauty of forms.”

As a visual artist, Karri Laitinen thinks that interior design is also an art form, and for that, Instagram is his gallery. The account is @thesecretaaltohome.

“I photograph every week and try not to repeat myself. At the same time, I delve into the backgrounds, and the posts also serve as notes for myself.”

The highest space in the apartment is in the narrow staircase. Down below, you’re met with Artek’s graphic black-and-white patterns: Zebra, which Aino Aalto found for the Artek collection, and Venezia, designed by Alvar Aalto.

The staircase has many sculptural details. The three handrails provide support for people of different heights.

Karri was fascinated by a Japanese-inspired style with tatami beds even before he read about Alvar Aalto’s interest in Japan. The bedroom curtains are made from the Puolikas fabric by Vuokko, the painting is by Frida Hultcrantz, and the ryijy rug by Ritva Laitinen.

When it was decided in the 1930s that a pulp mill would be established in Kotka, the A. Ahlström CEO Harry Gullichsen asked his friend Alvar Aalto to be the architect of the entire project. The industrial and residential area designed between 1936–39 is the largest realized ensemble by Alvar and Aino Aalto.

The area has about 350 apartments. Among the first completed was the Mäkelä row house for foremen, where Karri Laitinen lives.

“As is often the case with Aalto, the house is adapted to the slope. From every window, you can see nature.”

The pines around the brick houses were preserved, the oldest of which are now over 200 years old. In recent years, residents have cleared the overgrown surroundings to reveal the contours of the landscape.

Karri has been to many places to admire Aalto’s architecture, and the trips have brought insights into his own home and its fundamental nature.

“In our home too, the following principle is realized in the entryway: you enter a small space, from which light invites you to proceed toward an open area. I understood the idea when visiting the Muurame church, where there’s also a low ceiling after the entryway to enhance the effect.”

Both Karri and the seller thought the coat rack was designed by Aalto, which it wasn’t. It found a place in the home either way.

The Alvar Aalto chairs 68 can be stacked into a small space when many seats are not needed.

We take a walking tour around the residential area. The workers’ apartment buildings are as thoughtfully integrated into the landscape as the row houses and the factory director’s representative residence. The round wooden pillars of the canopies and the balcony railings are like extensions of the pine forest.

“Sunila isn’t ‘wow’ architecture like, for example, Villa Mairea in Noormarkku. The buildings in this area are more simplified, and it takes some familiarizing to see their nuances.”

On the terrace of the log sauna by the shore, Karri sits down on a bench. Here, he has often sat watching the factory view across the water, which in the darkness has brought to his mind the lights and the misty landscape of the movie Blade Runner.

The yellow chairs from the Alvar Aalto Aurinko (‘Sun’) series are from the 1940s, the table from the 1970s–80s. Here, Karri Laitinen often sits drawing.

But will the factory lights stay on in the future? This summer, it was announced that the pulp mill would be closed.

Originally, the factory took care of everything here, from housing to medical services, childcare, and sports activities. Over time, its areas of responsibility decreased, and finally, in the 1980s, the apartments began to be sold.

“This became a surprisingly undervalued suburb, and a backlog of repairs has accumulated,” says Karri.

Gradually, the affordable living in Aalto’s buildings has started to attract people. The active Pro Sunila association aims to raise the profile of the area. Sunila is one of the sites included when Aalto’s architecture is proposed for UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.

The row house apartments following the slope are at different levels.

The old power plant chimney, with the factory’s original logo preserved, serves as Sunila’s landmark.

The row house home in Sunila, Kotka, is 80 square meters.