Designer Eero Saarinen often felt that a room with chairs was restless because of the four legs each chair had. For this reason, he wanted to design a chair that made rooms look calmer and more appealing with only one solid leg. Between 1955 and 1957, he designed the well-known and still very popular Tulip Chair series. He had miniatures made true to the model and tested their effect in doll's houses.

His training as a sculptor allowed Saarinen to refine the models more and more and also to create them in original size. Together with Don Petitt of Knoll's Design Development Group, he worked on a variety of ingenious models of chairs that had only one base. They then sent the prototypes to friends and family so they could test them in their homes. The end result is now one of the most timeless designs in the world - the Tulip Chair.

The Saarinen collection has won many important awards. Including:

Museum of Modern Art Award, New York, 1969.
Federal Prize for Product Design/"Gute Form", Germany, 1969.
Award for the design career of the Design Center Stuttgart, Germany, 1962.

Material and format

The Tulip Chair belongs to the Tulip seating furniture collection by Knoll International in different versions, which we list below.

Shell: Moulded, glass-fibre reinforced plastic shell.
Colour shell : white, black or platinum
Upholstery : this version has a removable seat cushion (cover with zip and Velcro fastening) or full upholstery (selectable on the product)
Base: Cast aluminium with Rilsan surface coating on all black and white models. The platinum-coloured column feet have a polyurethane coating with a transparent finish.
Frame: can be ordered swivel or rigid
Original: The KnollStudio logo and Eero Saarinen's signature can be found on the underside of the foot.

Note: The Tulip Chair is available in many different versions with different fabrics and leathers. Please feel free to contact us at any time for an individual offer or comprehensive advice - we look forward to your message or call!

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Product number:	KNOLL INT 150 A
Manufacturer	Knoll International
designed in	1957
Designer	Eero Saarinen
Shipping method	Forwarding agent
Width (cm)	68
Depth (cm)	59
Height (cm)	81