The Tulip Turns 50

A sketch of Eero Saarinen’s Tulip chair for Knoll.

Thanks to the energy and optimism of some of Atlanta’s design elite, Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) is hosting the first exhibition of the full range of furniture created by famed mid-century architect and designer Eero Saarinen (1910-1961). Spearheaded by Retromodern’s Scott Reilly and several other MODA supporters, the project took off when past and present board members Ann Johnson, Debbie Chapman and Pamola Powell visited Knoll’s factory in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, and asked Knoll president Cass Bradley to help lure some of this design work to town.

Sponsored by Knoll, the company that originally commissioned and produced Saarinen’s furniture, the exhibition is organized by independent design scholar Brian Lutz and includes rare vintage pieces from the Knoll Museum, as well as objects which have remained in continuous production since their first date of issue. Among the iconic pieces on display will be examples of the Tulip tables and chairs, the Womb chair and settee, and the Grasshopper chair. Alongside the furniture are drawings and notes to bring the modern master alive for the current generation of mid-century design enthusiasts in Atlanta.

Born in Finland but raised in the Michigan community of Cranbrook Academy of Art, where his father, architect Eliel Saarinen, taught, Eero befriended the future Florence Knoll, beginning a lifelong collaboration between the designer and the open-minded co-director of the new Knoll furniture business she opened in 1938 with husband Hans Knoll. Moving between his architecture practice and the design world, Saarinen developed a seamless design aesthetic based on modern technology and organic forms in his architectural spaces and domestic interiors alike. His most notable buildings include Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. (1958-1962) and the TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York (1956-1962).

The dining table with white base and white laminate top was designed in 1956. The Tulip armchair won an award for industrial design in 1969.

The show marks the 50th anniversary of Knoll’s launch of Saarinen’s Tulip series of pedestal chairs and tables. The designer had hoped to “cure the slum of the legs” with the Tulip work, with its elegant pedestals constructed from fiberglass and cast aluminum.

His pedestal tables allowed for flexible groupings, unencumbered by a forest of wooden legs and appendages. As gravity-defying as his Saint Louis Gateway Arch (1961-1966), the distinctive Tulip form graces the kitchens, living rooms and offices of the most classical or style-conscious design patrons today. Most of his designs for Knoll anticipated major changes in design aesthetic ahead of their time and required creative innovation in production. For example, the Tulip chairs conceived in the mid-1950s were partially produced outside Knoll by shipbuilders who used fiberglass for fashioning boat hulls! The molded seats were then upholstered and assembled at the factory.

Knoll is in the process of relocating its Atlanta showroom to the Westside’s new White Provisions development in August. The Furniture of Eero Saarinen: Designs for Everyday Living will be on view through May 5. Museum of Design Atlanta, (404) 979-6455, museumofdesign.org.