1960's Eero Saarinen for Knoll Womb Chair and Ottoman
About the Item
- Creator:Knoll (Manufacturer),Eero Saarinen (Designer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 36.5 in (92.71 cm)Width: 39.5 in (100.33 cm)Depth: 35 in (88.9 cm)Seat Height: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960's
- Condition:Reupholstered. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. In good overall condition. The steel legs are in generally good shape for their age, but the ottoman's have some corrosion particularly on one side, please see the detailed photos.
- Seller Location:Palm Springs, CA
- Reference Number:
Womb Chair
Shortly after Eero Saarinen (1910–61) joined Florence Knoll at the manufacturer she had established with her husband, Hans, she presented the Finnish-born designer with a serious request: to create for her the world’s most comfortable chair, something, Saarinen recalls, that felt like “a basket full of pillows.”
Presented with the challenge, Saarinen went primal. What, the designer figured, better signifies the very essence of comfort than the womb? "It was designed on the theory that a great number of people have never really felt comfortable and secure since they left the womb,” the designer said of his chair, which began production in 1948. “The chair is an attempt to rectify this maladjustment in our civilization.”
The Womb chair, like many other masterpieces of modernist design, is genius in its simplicity. Comprised of few materials, the chair consists of a fabric-wrapped, molded fiberglass bucket set atop legs of tubular steel. The skeletal look of the frame keeps the chair from appearing bulky despite the seat’s oversized silhouette, which makes it inviting to people of all sizes.
"There seemed to be a need for a large and really comfortable chair to take the place of the old overstuffed chair,” Saarinen once said of his concept. Indeed, despite being indisputably comfortable, the Womb doesn’t require an abundance of padding and tufting — instead, its comfort owes to a perfectly shaped shell of fiberglass. This new approach to ergonomics both reflected Saarinen’s love of streamlined forms and echoed the kind of experimental work being done by American designers Charles and Ray Eames, who, like Florence Knoll, were friends he'd made at Cranbrook Academy of Art while he taught there.
It didn’t take long for the chair to become a cultural phenomenon; in the decade following its release, it appeared in a Coca-Cola commercial, a New Yorker cartoon and in a Norman Rockwell painting on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Today, Knoll offers the seat in some 15 upholstery options, and when Saarinen’s famous TWA terminal reopened as a hotel in 2019, Womb chairs featured prominently in the guest rooms, continuing the legacy of this classic design.
Eero Saarinen
Through his work as an architect and designer, Eero Saarinen was a prime mover in the introduction of modernism into the American mainstream. Particularly affecting were the organic, curvilinear forms seen in Saarinen’s furniture and his best-known structures: the gull-winged TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy airport in New York (opened 1962), Dulles International Airport in Virginia (1962) and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri (1965).
Saarinen had a peerless modernist pedigree. His father, Eliel Saarinen, was an eminent Finnish architect who in 1932 became the first head of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit. The school became synonymous with progressive design and decorative arts in the United States, and while studying there the younger Saarinen met and befriended several luminaries of mid-century modernism, among them Harry Bertoia and Charles and Ray Eames.
At Cranbrook, Saarinen also met Florence Schust Knoll, who, as director of her husband Hans Knoll's eponymous furniture company, would put Saarinen’s best designs into production. These include the Grasshopper chair, designed in 1946 and so named because its angled bentwood frame resembles the insect; the Tulip chair (1957), a flower-shaped fiberglass shell mounted on a cast-aluminum pedestal; and the lushly contoured Womb lounge chair and ottoman (1948). In his furniture as in his architecture, the keynotes of Eero Saarinen’s designs are simplicity, strength and grace.
Find vintage Eero Saarinen tables, chairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Palm Springs, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Eero Saarinen for Knoll Oval Tulip Table in Oak and BlackBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Palm Springs, CAA beautiful example of an iconic design, this tulip table by Eero Saarinen is just stunning in this combination of a black base with a light oak top. Impressed on the base Knoll, and...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Side Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Early 1960’s Knoll Saarinen Walnut TableBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Palm Springs, CALovely early Knoll Saarinen Tulip table with a walnut top. 16 inch diameter. It bears the Knoll 320 Park Avenue label which dates it to the...Category
Vintage 1960s American Side Tables
MaterialsIron
- Early Knoll Saarinen Tulip TableBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Palm Springs, CAA very early production Knoll Eero Saarinen Tulip table. Marble oval top. Top is 22.375x 15 inches in dimension. Table top is in good condition al...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMarble, Metal
- Saarinen for Knoll White Marble Oval Tulip Dining TableBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Palm Springs, CAA stunning marble top 78 inch oval Saarinen Tulip table by Knoll. We purchased 2 1960's era 78 inch table's with only one vintage base. We managed to find a 1990's era Genuine Knoll ...Category
20th Century American Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMarble, Aluminum
- Warren Platner for Knoll big Easy Lounge Chair with Bronze FinishBy Warren Platner, KnollLocated in Palm Springs, CAA beautiful Warren Platner Big Easy Chair for Knoll. Originally purchased in the 1980's this chair was recently re-upholstered in a pretty Knoll fabric. It is in the Bronze Metallic ...Category
Vintage 1980s American Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBronze
- Red Florence Knoll Lounge ChairsBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in Palm Springs, CAA pair of vintage Florence Knoll lounge chairs on steel bases. We have these totally refurbished and re-upholstered in red Maharam Messenger fabric. The bases have been polished, and...Category
20th Century American Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Eero Saarinen for Knoll Womb Chair and OttomanBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Philadelphia, PAEero Saarinen for Knoll Womb Chair and ottoman. Probably one of the most comfortable chairs ever created! This chair and ottoman d...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Eero Saarinen vintage Womb Chair and Ottoman for KnollBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Houston, TXEero Saarinen Knoll International USA 1946 upholstery, painted steel chair: 35 h × 41 w × 35 d inches Vintage Eero Saarinen womb chair and ottoman for Knoll...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Womb Chair and Ottoman by Eero Saarinen for Knoll, 2000sBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Renens, CHIndulge in comfort with the Womb Chair, designed by Eero Saarinen and produced by Knoll. This iconic chair showcases Saarinen’s visionary design, and Kn...Category
Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman, Knoll, USA, 1950sBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in London, GBAn early production Eero Saarinen womb chair and ottoman, made by Knoll, USA, 1950s. Newly upholstered in luxurious pure Alpaca fabric (brown / grey) with a structure of fibreglass, black enameled steel frames and first edition feet / glides. Fast shipping worldwide. When asked by Florence Knoll to design 'a chair that was like a basket full of cushions - something she could really curl up in', Eero Saarinen produced the Womb chair...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Vintage "Womb" Bouclé Chair and Ottoman by Eero Saarinen for KnollBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in North Hollywood, CAWonderful vintage “womb” bouclé chair and ottoman designed by Eero Saarinen for Knoll in the United States, early 1940s. This chair has a modern design and could be considered even a...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Womb Chair & Ottoman by Eero Saarinen for KnollBy Eero SaarinenLocated in Dallas, TXA womb chair and ottoman designed by Eero Saarinen for Knoll upholstered in baroque fabric.Category
Vintage 1960s Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric