The Saarinen Collection of dining tables, introduced by Knoll in 1957 is as popular as ever. Designer Eero Saarinen wanted to tidy up what he saw as the 'slum' of legs with traditional tables and chairs and so created the sculptural and sensuous monobloc bases that have given the collection its nickname – Tulip.
Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen's primary intention when designing his last furniture series for Knoll International was to simplify and clarify structure. He declared: "The undercarriage of chairs and tables in a typical interior makes an ugly, confusing, unrestful world. I wanted to clear up the slum of legs. I wanted to make the chair all one thing again." He was also fascinated by new materials emerging in the 1950s: "What interests me is when and where to use these structural plastic shapes. Probing more deeply into different possibilities, one finds many different shapes are equally logical ñ some ugly, some exciting, some earth-bound, some soaring. The choices really become a sculptor's choice." Thus Saarinen's eponymous tables - and by extension, the Tulip chair which complements them - became a synthesis of perfect proportions, organic shapes and graceful curved lines.
Whilst Saarinen had originally hoped to make the chair from a single piece of fibreglass, the slender stem was not able to support the seat. The seat shell is therefore fibreglass, attached to a cast aluminium stem and base coated with a tough Rilsan resin finish. Serendipity therefore provided the opportunity to add a swivelling mechanism to the chair. Available in white or black frame with either a seat pad or fully upholstered inner shell in a wide range of fabrics and leathers, as side or arm chairs.
The table collection: dining tables - round in diameter sizes from 91cm up to 152cm and oval at 198cm or 244cm in length. Occasional tables in varying sizes and heights, both oval and round. Tops in a range of beautiful Italian marbles or wood veneers. There is even an outdoor version in acrylic stone.
