Set of white and green 6 “Tulip” chairs, Eero Saarinen, s. XX Finland

When referring to the history of this design, it is always said that for Saarinen the “lower neighborhood of the legs”, that is, what is observed under the chairs and tables, was a “confusing, restless and ugly” world. “. To do this, he studied the best way to put an end to it and after five years he presented the “Tulip” or Pedestal Collection, introduced in 1958.

In good condition for its age and use, they present an organic production label (Sept. 2002).

Eero Saarinem

Prolific and versatile, Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) was an innovator in the forms of architecture and furniture design. He did not want to be limited by the strict geometry of functionalism and embraced the sensuality and symbolism of curved forms. With the passage of time, his figure grows larger and his decisive contribution to modern architecture and his strong commitment to intuitive and humanized design are recognized.

He lived only 51 years, and died without seeing the construction of two of the works that have given him a prominent place in the history of architecture and gave architectural identity to the United States: the TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport in New York – today national monument – and the Gateaway arch of the city of San Luis, a tribute to the Americans who explored the West of the country, and which in its bold shape and complicated engineering perfectly symbolizes the challenge and adventure of that expansion. The monument was completed in 1965, four years after his death, and, like many of Saarinen’s works, it provoked controversy at the time, although today it is a landmark.

Throughout his career, he practiced eclectic architecture, in which he gave each building an individual character that responded to the physical and symbolic needs of the client, although to do so he had to skip some premises of modern architecture and was accused of excessive or rhetorical by the guardians of modernity.

Eero Saarinen worked in the 1930s with Charles Eames, who had studied at Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, an institution dedicated to highlighting the fusion of form and function, material and idea, craft and technology. The Academy building had been designed precisely by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, Eero’s father.

Along with Charles Eames, Saarinen pioneered the design of furniture that adapted to the shapes of the human body and retained this interest in organic shapes and structures in his work as an architect, seeking to expand the expressive range of architecture. modern.

That is why his contribution in this field also left a strong mark: the Tulip table and chair, and the Womb armchair, all produced by Knoll, are cult objects for design lovers. The Tulip chair manifests Saarinen’s search for a continuous, uninterrupted and comfortable way for different types of the human body. He is also famous for the series of seats that he created together with Charles Eames for the Organic Design in Home Furnishing competition, which today is manufactured by Vitra under the name Organic.

Dimensions total : 82 x 42 x 51 cm. : foot 42 x 42 cm.