Eero Saarinen wanted to clean up with his Tulip Collection. He wanted to organise the "ugly, disturbing, unsettled world" under tables and chairs: the mix of legs had always disturbed the Finnish architect and designer.
Saarinen Collection: Things that take their time…
Saarinen initially drew hundreds of sketches before creating 1:4 scale models and putting them in something like a doll house so as to get an idea of their spatial effect right from the start. Since Eero Saarinen already had some experience creating sculptures, the Finnish-American design icon created his first models in original size on his own – with clay.
Saarinen was supported by Don Petitt, an employee of Knoll's development department. Together they found a way to carry over Saarinen's visionary designs to mass production.
In the end friends and family became testers who tried out the furniture in Saarinen's house in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
... are good in the end!
in the end Saarinen needed five years of trying out and modelling until he could debut to the public the final form of his Saarinen Collection of one-legged furniture, named Pedestal Collection.What at the start was the world-famous Tulip Chair also includes the "Tulip Table" today, as the collection of one-legged furniture by Knoll is inseparable.
Eero Saarinen