tulip stool

saarinen tulip stool Design Eero Saarinen, 1956

Aluminum base,upholstery

Made in USA byKnoll

In his purist approach to design,Finnish-born Eero Saarinen sought out the essential idea andreduced it to the most effective structural solution. He designedthe 1956 Tulip collection in terms of its setting, rather than aparticular shape. "In any design problem, one should seek thesolution in terms of the next largest thing." he said. "If theproblem is a chair, then its solution must be found in the way itrelates to the room..." In Tulip, Saarinen realized his ideal offormal unity: "Every significant piece of furniture has a holisticstructure." Winner of the 1969 Museum of Modern Art Award, theTulip is Saarinen's genius solution to clearing up the "slum oflegs" that populates the under-carriage of most diningsets.

The Saarinen tulip stools are castaluminum with a swivel base. There is a Rilsan coated finish forthe black and white stools. Platinum stools consist of ahigh-resilient polyurethane enamel wet coat with a clear satinfinish. The signature of Eero Saarinen is located on the undersideof the base.