Eero Saarinen and Tulip furniture

"'Chair and table frames in typical interiors make the world ugly, confusing and disturbing. I wanted to clean up the slums of the legs." Starting with this statement, we present the process that led the great designer to create the Tulip chair in the beginning and, later, the homonymous table, initiating a new way of conceiving 'crowding' in the legs of furniture components.

Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) was a Finnish-American architect and designer, known for his revolutionary contributions to architecture and furniture design. Famous for his innovative approach and ability to combine aesthetics and functionality, Saarinen remains one of the most important designers for works that continue to have a strong influence on contemporary production to this day. Among his most famous works in the field of furniture is the Tulip collection, produced by Knoll.

After studying architecture at Yale University and collaborating with some of the greatest architects of his time, including his father Eliel Saarinen and Charles Eames, the young architect soon developed a creative skill characterised by a powerful desire to break with traditional conventions and create new and elegant forms that could be both functional and aesthetic.

The immediate impetus came from the competition 'Organic Design in Home Furnishings', which had already been announced in 1941 by the MOMA -Museum of Modern Art in New York. And it was for this competition that between 1953 and 1958, Eero Saarinen drew up the design for a chair with a pedestal base that was aesthetically beautiful, replacing the visual interweaving of the legs with a single base (also called Pedestal).

Its shape, attractive and functional, was named TULIP, because of its resemblance to a tulip. In 1956, Eero Saarinen also designed the table solving the same problem as the legs of the chairs, naming it TULIP TABLE, to be used as a dining table or in the living room as a coffee table, forming together with the chairs a combination of exceptional practicality and elegance. The (perfectly successful) intention of the designer was to eliminate the 'chaos of legs' under traditional tables and chairs, creating a clean, modern base.

There was also great innovation in terms of materials: the Tulip furniture was, in fact, made with a combination of die-cast aluminium for the base and reinforced fibreglass for the surfaces of the tables and chairs.

This audacious experimentation allowed the creation of fluid, continuous forms that were revolutionary for the time. The soft, organic lines became emblematic of modern design: the Tulip chairs, for example, have a contoured seat that adapts to the human body, offering comfort as well as refined aesthetics.

Eero Saarinen's Tulip collection had a lasting impact on the design that developed later, influencing generations of designers and becoming a symbol of elegance and modernity. These pieces of furniture are not only functional pieces but also works of art that continue to be appreciated and sought after by design enthusiasts and collectors.

In conclusion, Eero Saarinen's Tulip furniture is a perfect example of how design can combine form and function, breaking with convention to create something completely new and extraordinary.