The Tulip Chair
| Designer | Eero Saarinen |
| Date | 1956 |
Description
The chair appears as molded in one piece but it is in fact constructed of a cast aluminum pedestal base, supporting a molded fiberglass reinforced plastic seat shell.The form supports Saarinen’s design philosophy of clear lines. The chair is available in various colours, the most popular being black and white, with arms or without and features an optional cushion available in various colors. It is a legendary modern furniture design that is still one of the most popular items in modern furniture stores 50 years after its creation.
A Personal View
The Tulip Chair is a classic furniture design of the twentieth century and it might be the most popular chair in history. It is a ‘child’ of the post war industrial boom, as it was intended to be produced entirely out of plastic. For me the chair is a symbol of modernism; molded concrete architecture and plastic futuristic designs. Its clean form made it popular throughout the decades and today it is to be found in various interiors.
Context
After the 2nd world war, new technologies allowed the use of materials like molded plywood, cast aluminum and, later, plastic. Mass production was no longer an issue, since the war had powered the industry. This favoured the modern movement in furniture design. Progressive designers like Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia and Eero Saarinen tried to create modern furniture in fluid, organic forms. Eero Saarinen designed the Tulip Chair in 1956 as a part of the dinning set for the Knoll Company in New York City. Saarinen's Tulip Chair won many awards, including the Museum of Modern Art Award in 1969, the Federal Award for Industrial Design in 1969 and the Design Center Stuttgart Award in 1962.
Links
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_chair - General information about the Tulip Chairs.
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eero_Saarinen - Good info about the designer.
www.redesignlife.com - Online store.
| Author: | Monika Michalowska | Date: | March 2008 |