Aldo Tura - Ashtray - Goat skin

Vintage pressure mechanical ashtray, a famous classic of mid-20th-century Italian design conceived by Aldo Tura and made in Milan during the 1950s and 1960s.

Structural Characteristics and Materials:
The lower body features a characteristic bulging and rounded silhouette. It is made of wood and covered with the designer's distinctive technique: goat leather lacquered (glazed parchment) in a tobacco-brown, variegated shade. The glossy finish highlights the organic, natural texture of the material.

The Mechanical Component: The upper part is constructed in polished brass. It includes a beveled edge that serves as a collection tray and a vertical central shaft topped by a knob.

The Cigarette Supports: Attached to the central metal structure are two arched brass arms ending in small semicircular recesses, designed to rest the cigarettes.

Operation: This is a push-down ashtray: by pressing the knob at the top of the central shaft, the metal disc at the bottom of the tray descends and rotates, pushing ash and butts directly into the container below. This mechanism allowed hiding visual residue and trapping smoke odors inside the sealed body.

The main material of the lower body is lacquered goat leather (also known as parchment), while the metallic and mechanical components are made of brass.

Here is the detail of all the materials that compose the object:
Goat leather stained and lacquered: Covers the entire brown surface of the bulged base. This organic material was applied to the shaft and then treated with layers of transparent protective glossy lacquer ( vitrification), a traditional artisanal technique typical of Aldo Tura's creations.
Brass: Forms the entire upper metal structure, including the top knob, the push mechanism, the two arched arms for resting cigarettes, and the collection tray.
Wood or composite material: Makes up the hidden inner core of the base, used as a rigid support for the application and tension of the leather.