The Tulip chair was designed by
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motor ...
in 1955 and 1956
for the
Knoll company of New York City.
The designs were initially entitled the 'Pedestal Group' before Saarinen and Knoll settled on the more organic sounding 'Tulip Chair' to mirror its inspiration from nature. It was designed primarily as a chair to match the complementary dining table. The chair has the smooth lines of
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, ...
and was experimental with materials for its time. The chair is considered a classic of
industrial design.
The chair is often considered "
Space Age
The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 during 1957, and continuing ...
" for its futuristic use of curves and artificial materials.
Design and construction
Saarinen said: "The undercarriage of chairs and tables in a typical interior makes an ugly, confusing, unrestful world. I wanted to clear up the slum of legs. I wanted to make the chair all one thing again."
Saarinen had hoped to produce the chair as a one piece unit made entirely of
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...
, but this material was not able to support the base, and prototypes were prone to breakage. As a result, the base of the tulip chair is of
cast
Cast may refer to:
Music
* Cast (band), an English alternative rock band
* Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band
* The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
* ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William
...
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...
with a
rilsan-coated
finish to match the upper shell, giving the appearance of a single unit. The upper shell is molded
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...
, with a reinforced,
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
bonded finish.
[ The upholstered foam cushion is removable with Velcro fastening.][
Saarinen was awarded a patent for the Tulip chair in 1960.
]
Awards
* Museum of Modern Art Award, 1969[
* Federal Award for Industrial Design, 1969][
* Design Center Stuttgart Award, 1962][
]
Project Cybersyn
In 1971 a modified form of the Tulip Chair was used in the design of Project Cybersyn
Project Cybersyn was a Chilean project from 1971 to 1973 during the presidency of Salvador Allende aimed at constructing a distributed decision support system to aid in the management of the national economy. The project consisted of four modul ...
.Free As In Beer: Cybernetic Science Fictions
accessed April 7, 2012
See also
* List of chairs
The following is a partial list of chairs with descriptions, with internal or external cross-references about most of the chairs. For other chair-like types (like bench, stool), see
0-9
* 10 Downing Street Guard Chairs, two antique chairs used ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tulip Chair
Products introduced in 1955
Chairs
Modernism
Mid-century modern
Individual models of furniture
Space Age