Knoll International Saarinen

With the Pedestal Collection, Eero Saarinen set out to eliminate the "slum of legs" beneath four-legged chairs and tables. His working process began with hundreds of drawings, followed by quarter-scale models. The compelling idea was to design chairs that would present themselves well in a room, which is why the model furniture was set up in a doll's-house-sized room built to scale. Thanks to his early training as a sculptor, Saarinen refined his design through full-size models, continuously modifying the form with clay. "What fascinates me is when and where to use these structural plastic forms. On closer examination of various possibilities, it becomes clear that many different forms are equally logical — some perhaps less appealing, others exciting, some earthbound, others floating. The selection truly becomes a sculptor's decision." Don Petitt from Knoll's Design Development Group supported Saarinen, introducing clever model-making methods along the way. Production problems were solved in collaboration with a Knoll research team. Full-size models were turned into actual furniture and, using family and friends as "test subjects", the pieces were tried out in the dining and living rooms of the Saarinen house in Bloomfield Hills.