Aalto tea trolley 901 ColoRing, red - turquoise

The tea trolley 901, designed by Alvar Aalto for Artek in 1936, has gotten a new look with the ColoRing technique. Released in 2019, the ColoRing range is part of the FIN/JPN Friendship Collection by Artek. The collection celebrates the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Finland and Japan.

Developed by the Japanese architect and designer Jo Nagasaka, ColoRing surface treatment accents the natural grain patterns of the wood with bright colours. Based on traditional Japanese Udukuri and Tsugaru-nuri techniques, ColoRing technique was created by brushing soft-grained pinewood with a hard-haired brush and coating it with two layers of coloured lacquer. When the layers are subsequently sanded away, a colourful play of the grain patterns unveils beneath them. Artek has developed a semi-industrial process of Nagasaka's manual technique to bring it to a wider audience. The Stool 60, Bench 153B and Tea Trolley 901 of the ColoRing collection are manufactured in Finland.

Alvar Aalto

Jo Nagasaka

Artek was founded in 1935 by four young idealists – Alvar and Aino Aalto, Nils-Gustav Hahl and Maire Gullichsen published a design manifesto inspired by functionalism, stating that Artek’s aim was “to sell furniture and to promote modern culture of habitation by exhibitions and other means”. Since its foundation, Artek has played in the intersection of design, architecture, and art, making Finnish design and Alvar Aalto's furniture known all over the world.