Furniture for an occasion
A trolley brings things together before it carries them anywhere. Glasses, bottles or cups can occupy one small piece of furniture, leaving the main table available for people. Gastone gives that arrangement two levels and a set of wheels.2
Its more revealing feature comes afterwards. When the surfaces fold, the trolley becomes a shallower object. The room does not have to reserve the full serving footprint throughout the week.
This makes the closed position part of the original brief. A folding trolley has to look and work convincingly during use, but its hinges and frame must also negotiate the moment when it is put aside.
Citterio and Löw’s 1991 trolley
Kartell Museo dates Gastone to 1991 and credits Antonio Citterio and Oliver Löw. Its guide describes a combination of plastic components and metal, including chromed steel and die-cast aluminium.1
That mix is visible in the object’s hierarchy. Broad surfaces hold the contents; narrow structural members connect them to the wheels. Small joints allow the relationship to change when the trolley closes.
The furniture does not need to imitate an old wooden tea trolley to perform the same domestic job. It keeps the useful sequence—gather, move, serve—while using a more open frame and a compact storage position.
Follow the hinges
In a still photograph, Gastone can look like two trays held inside a light frame. The hinges reveal why it is more than a fixed shelving unit on castors. A surface that folds needs clearance, and its supporting members must leave a path for that movement.
Our diagram isolates the difference between an open serving volume and a folded one. It is a schematic explanation of the design, not an assembly instruction or a measured footprint for every edition.
The important observation is simple: the trolley’s useful shape changes over time. The larger form belongs to serving; the smaller form belongs to waiting.
The name on a second-hand trolley
Kartell’s related folding furniture can make resale descriptions confusing. Gastone is the two-level trolley discussed here; Battista is a separate folding-table design. A shared maker, designers or period does not make the names interchangeable.12
An ordinary second-hand Gastone therefore has a story beyond its colour and condition. It belongs to furniture designed around intermittent need. A home may want a small service station for a few hours and clear floor space for the rest of the day. The ability to become less furniture is precisely what makes this trolley interesting.