The Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen had already gained international acclaim before he came to America in 1923. In 1925 he was asked to develop the Cranbrook Academy of Art at Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and thereafter, although he was responsible for many important projects elsewhere, Cranbrook became the focus of his life.

Saarinen used this tea service in his own house at Cranbrook. The designs of the prototype urn and a small tray were slightly modified when put into limited production. One example was prominently displayed in the "Room for a Lady" that Saarinen designed for The Metropolitan Museum of Art's important 1934 exhibition "Contemporary American Industrial Design."

The concept is remarkably sophisticated. On the one hand it relies for its effect on the pure geometries that were a hallmark of the modernists. What might in other hands have led to austerity, however, is offset by the fine proportions of the pieces and is given great elegance through the exaggerated height of the finial and the warmth of the brass plating that Saarinen insisted on for his personal pieces. (The other versions of the urn and tray were all finished in silverplate.) The matching creamer and covered sugar bowl and the larger tray were added in 1935 and are unique.