Movable Feast: Artek Tea Trolley

For arbiters of Mid-Century Nordic furnishings, the term tea trolley begins and ends in 1936—the yr Alvar Aalto wheeled out his Tea Trolley 901 for Artek. Framed in pale, exquisitely bent birch wood, the linear Tea Trolley 901—with its beautifully stylized, rubber-edged wheels—was a profile in versatility, portability and, not incidentally, reductive beauty. A examine in geometry and stability, right here was a typically subsidiary piece of furnishings that wasn’t developed to languish on the sidelines, trotted out only for the occasional gathering but rather, like Aalto’s properly-identified chairs and stools, Artek Tea Trolley 901 (and the subsequent Artek Tea Trolley 900), was an arresting visual statement, irrespective of exactly where it was placed and what function it served. And, as with drastically else Aalto created, we haven’t observed something pretty like it thinking about that.

Images: Artek