Tea Trolley 900 by Alvar Aalto for Artek, Early Model

About the Item

The tea trolley was inspired by British tea culture, which Aino and Alvar Aalto had become acquainted with though their many travels, as well as by the Japanese woodwork and architecture they admired. The striking Tea Trolley 900, which features ceramic tiles and a rattan basket, was first launched internationally at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937, a traditionally functionalist piece of furniture embellished with pared down multicultural references. Versatile and full of character, Tea Trolley 900 is the perfect centrepiece for enjoying anything from breakfast to high tea or cocktails. Good vintage condition with crazing and hairline cracks to the tiles.

Creator:
Alvar Aalto (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 23.5 in (59.69 cm)Width: 25.5 in (64.77 cm)Depth: 35.5 in (90.17 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Bentwood,Ceramic,Rattan
Place of Origin:
Finland
Period:
Mid-20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1960
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Centreville, VA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU8365247234952

Shop All Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto

An architect and designer, Alvar Aalto deserves an immense share of the credit for bringing Scandinavian modernism and Nordic design to a prominent place in the global arena. In both his buildings and his vintage furniture — which ranges from chairs, stools, tables and lighting to table- and glassware — Aalto’s sensitivity to the natural world and to organic forms and materials tempered the hardness of rationalist design.

Relatively few Aalto buildings exist outside Finland. (Just four exist in the United States, and only one — the sinuous 1945 Baker House dormitory at M.I.T. — is easily visited.) International attention came to Aalto, whose surname translates to English as “wave,” primarily through his furnishings.

Instead of the tubular metal framing favored by the Bauhaus designers and Le Corbusier, Aalto insisted on wood. His aesthetic is best represented by the Paimio armchair, developed with his wife, Aino Aalto, in 1930 as part of the overall design of a Finnish tuberculosis sanatorium.

Comfortable, yet light enough to be easily moved by patients, the Paimio chair’s frame is composed of two laminated birch loops; the seat and back are formed from a single sheet of plywood that scrolls under the headrest and beneath the knees, creating a sort of pillow effect. Aalto’s use of plywood had an enormous influence on Charles and Ray Eames, Arne Jacobsen, Marcel Breuer and others who later came to the material.

Concerned with keeping up standards of quality in the production of his designs, Aalto formed the still-extant company Artek in 1935, along with Aino, whose glass designs were made by the firm. In the latter medium, in 1936 the Aaltos together created the iconic, undulating Savoy vase, so-called for the luxe Helsinki restaurant for which the piece was designed.

Artek also produced Aalto pendants and other lighting designs, many of which — such as the Angel’s Wing floor lamp and the Beehive pendant — incorporate a signature Aalto detail: shades made of concentric enameled-metal rings graduated down in diameter. The effect of the technique is essential Alvar Aalto: at once precise, simple, and somehow poetic.

Find a collection of vintage Alvar Aalto stools, vases, dining tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.