Eero Saarinen, who was born in Finland on August 20, 1910, as the child of a famous architect-academician father and a famous textile artist mother, found himself in the world of design from an early age.
Family Affairs
He began his design education at Michigan's Cranbrook Academy of Arts, where his father, Eliel Saarinen, was the director. After studying sculpture in Paris and architecture at Yale University, Saarinen returned to Michigan in 1934 to carry out architectural studies with his father. Father Saarinen once said, “Always design something with its higher context in mind – a chair in the room, a room in the house, a house in the neighborhood, and a neighborhood in the city plan.” Saarinen, who took this solid family background even further with the comprehensive education he received, would take his place among the greatest designers of the 20th century with the works he would fit in his relatively short life. He met Charles Eames while teaching at Cranbook. These young men worked on joint projects, both in pursuit of new materials and innovative production methods. The most important among these was the chair collection they designed using molded plywood for the competition opened by MoMA in 1940. They won the first place in all categories with the project, which was free from all kinds of ornaments and created its own aesthetics with its functionality. The project, which inspired young designers, also pioneered the modernist furniture movement in America.
Saarinen, who made designs for the Knoll company in the 1940s, brought to life many iconic products in 15 years, including Tulip chairs and tables and the Womb Chair.
Realizing his furniture designs with a sculptural approach, Saarinen made hundreds of models in various scales and thus tried to reach the most perfect organic forms.
The New Face of Modernism
In addition to his successful work in the field of furniture, Saarinen was also one of the pioneers of the second generation of modernist architects. Constantly pushing the boundaries in the field of design, the architect enriched the modern architectural language by adding curvilinear and nature-inspired forms that were not found in the works of his predecessors.
Among its world-famous projects, Washington Dulles Airport, St. Louis Gateway Arch, the CBS building in New York, and the TWA Terminal Building at Kennedy International Airport, which was repurposed as a hotel this year.
Saarinen's iconic furniture designs are still produced by the Knoll company by updating them according to contemporary expectations and possibilities.
Sources:
Knoll Web Site: https://www.knoll.com/designer/Eero-Saarinen Knoll Saarinen Collection: https://www.knoll.com/shop/by-category/knoll-classics/the-eero-saarinen-collection Architectural Digest: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/architect-eero-saarinen-landmark-buildings Arch Daily: https://www.archdaily.com/772104/spotlight-eero-saarinen
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