Tea Trolley 901

Description from Hive Modern

• Design Alvar Aalto, 1936
• Bent birch plywood, laminate
• Made in Finland by Artek

“Objects are made to be completed by the human mind.” -Alvar Aalto

Aalto invented a process for bending thick layers of birch into gracefully curved loops to create strong, light frames for a number of products, including his famous tea trolleys. For easy movement, these charming and highly functional pieces have large white wheels with black rubber tread that won’t mar floors. The handle and edge banding are solid birch. The Tea trolleys serve as highly functional and distinctive additions to a dining room or hospitality area. Introduced at the 1937 Paris World’s Fair, they are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Alvar Aalto was a highly talented architect and an eager spokesman for the international modernist movement. Aalto’s designs were innovative and radical and became known for his experimental approach to bending wood, which greatly influenced American designers Charles & Ray Eames and Finnish-born Eero Saarinen. His style became known as humanist modernism. Alvar Aalto’s dialogue with nature, architecture, design and the human being has become a living legacy.

Tea Trolley 901 features natural lacquered birch with shelves available with black or white laminate surfaces and white wheels.