Knoll International Saarinen Tulip chair • seat cushion
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Knoll International Saarinen Tulip chair • seat cushion
The Tulip chair with seat cushion from Knoll International is the dining chair without armrests: a narrow shell on the characteristic tulip base, the inside remaining visible in white or black, with a cushion on the seat surface. Eero Saarinen designed the Tulip Chair in 1957 as part of his Pedestal Collection for Knoll. He was bothered by what he called the "slum of legs": the clutter of chair and table legs under every table. He reduced the idea to its most effective construction, a single base from which the seat shell grows, giving the form its name. Saarinen had studied sculpture in Paris, architecture at Yale and design at the Cranbrook Academy of Art; he worked with Florence Knoll throughout his life. The chair and its matching table are regarded today as icons of mid-century design. The Museum of Modern Art in New York honoured the Tulip Chair in 1969, the same year it received the Bundespreis für industrielles Design (German Federal Design Award).
The base is cast aluminium, coated with Rilsan. Rilsan is a fused nylon layer that is scratch-resistant, resistant to chemicals and does not chip. The seat shell is moulded from glass-fibre-reinforced plastic; shell and base are always the same colour, white or black. The seat cushion is removable: its cover closes with a zip and is held in place on the shell with hook-and-loop tape. The "KnollStudio" logo and Eero Saarinen's signature are stamped underneath the base. At 49 cm wide, the chair takes up noticeably less space at the table than the armchair version (68 cm), and because the single base has no legs to the side, several chairs can be placed close together.
In the swivel version, the shell can rotate on the base, so you can get up sideways at the table without pushing the chair back. The fixed version always stays aligned with the table and is somewhat less expensive. Anyone wanting upholstery on the back as well should choose the upholstered Tulip chair with a covered inner shell.
- Design: Eero Saarinen, 1957
- Type: Chair without armrests, with seat cushion
- Base: Cast aluminium, coated with Rilsan, white or black
- Shell: glass-fibre-reinforced plastic, in the colour of the base
- Versions: swivel or fixed
- Seat cushion: removable, cover with zip, attached with hook-and-loop tape
- Cover: fabric West (5 colours), Tonus (47 colours), Eva (19 colours), Hallingdal (58 colours), Opera (11 colours) – 140 covers in total
- Dimensions: W 49 x D 53 x H 81 cm · seat height 49 cm
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