DIMENSIONS

Eero Saarinen grew up in a household where drawing and painting were taken very seriously and a devotion to quality and professionalism were instilled in him at an early age. He was taught that each object should be designed in its "next largest context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment etc. During his expansive career, Saarinen was responsible for buildings that have become landmarks of American architecture. Such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the TWA Building at New York’s Kennedy Airport, and Dulles Airport have all become symbols of his legendary architectural abilities.

Eero Saarinen designed the Tulip Chair in the 1950’s, at the peak of his career. He developed the Tulip series as part of his designs for “organic furniture” with which he aimed to restore formal order to the interior setting. Ever since his time working with Charles Eames, he found a fascination creating “organic furniture,” that is furniture in a single form made from a single material. Saarinen’s vision was to free the interior space from the "sea of legs" that he thought created visual clutter. While his ideal was to construct his individual Tulip pieces from a solitary piece of moulded plastic, it was soon realized that it would be difficult to execute. Instead he focused on the graceful form and made the sacrifice of having an aluminium base that was necessary for proper support. The Tulip table and chair represents Saarinen s execution of his ideal “organic furniture”.