20th Century Furniture Designers and Architects
Eero Saarinen - Finnish
He emigrated to USA in 1923.
He is thought to be one of the most versatile architects since Frank Lloyd Wright.
He believed very strongly that the whole field of design is all one body.
He had three design principles - Function, Structure and being part of our time.
His architect father influenced Saarinen.
He believed that the person using the chair was as important as the chairs appearance; this is something that other designers like Rietveld and Wright had other ideas on, they put construction and appearance before anything else.
His womb chair, 1948, was molded fiberglass covered with foam and upholstered. It was named because you could curl up in it.
He designed the pedestal chair, 1956, with a cast aluminium base and a light mould fiberglass upper.
Saarinen did not like the metal tubing and preferred to design his sculptural forms.
