Set Sedie Saarinen Executive Knoll in Pelle Avorio
About the Item
- Creator:Eero Saarinen (Designer)
- Design:Executive Armless ChairExecutive Series
- Dimensions:Height: 31.11 in (79 cm)Width: 20.48 in (52 cm)Depth: 22.45 in (57 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 6
- Materials and Techniques:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Minerbio, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU9761239547502
Saarinen Executive Armless Chair
With the founding of the Knoll Planning Unit at Knoll Associates in 1946, the modern open-plan office was born. Soon after the launch of the internationally celebrated design firm’s workplace-focused division, the Saarinen Executive Armless chair would emerge as one of its seating staples. A departure from more rigid office seating, the 1950 design by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen (1910–61) offered some of the comfort of his 1948 Womb chair in a more formal shape. Nicknamed “that chair with the hole in the back” for its sculptural seat back, it fit easily into mid-century boardrooms and corporate cafeterias as part of the harmonious interiors designed by Florence Knoll, a legendary figure in mid-century modernism.
Saarinen and Knoll met while they were studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where Saarinen’s father, Eliel, was dean. Their lifelong friendship led to some of the most revered designs of the 20th century. Like his work in architecture, from the Gateway Arch to the TWA Flight Center, Saarinen’s furniture used innovations in postwar materials to create dynamic volumes. The Executive Armless chair expanded on Saarinen’s ergonomic experiments in molded plywood furniture that he had designed in collaboration with fellow Cranbrook alumnus Charles Eames (with assistance from Ray Eames), work which had been honored in the Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Design Competition.
The chairs introduced as the 71 and 72 Series found their initial multipurpose use in the Knoll office interiors but soon were popular in home dining rooms and living spaces. Knoll, Inc. continues to produce the Saarinen Executive Armless chair, with options updating the design’s original fiberglass form including an exposed plastic back or upholstered polyurethane shell joined by a contoured plywood seat and sturdy legs in steel or wood.
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: Minerbio, Italy
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Sedie Lc7 Le Corbusier Cassina Charlotte PerriandBy Le Corbusier, Charlotte PerriandLocated in Minerbio, BOCONTATTARE PER CONOSCERE LE REALI SPESE DI SPEDIZIONE. Poltrona Originale in perfetto stato conservativo, mai utilizzata, rimanenza di magazzino. Rivestimento in pelle blu, può pres...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- Sedie Cab 412 di Mario Bellini per CassinaBy Mario BelliniLocated in Minerbio, BOCONTATTARE PER CONOSCERE LE REALI SPESE DI SPEDIZIONE. Set di 2 sedie Cab 412 in pelle grigio chiaro di Mario Bellini per Cassina come nuove, perfette condizioni generali. La sedia ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- Sedie Cab 412 di Mario Bellini per CassinaBy Mario BelliniLocated in Minerbio, BOCONTATTARE PER CONOSCERE LE REALI SPESE DI SPEDIZIONE. Set di 2 sedie Cab 412 in pelle rosso bordeaux di Mario Bellini per Cassina come nuove, perfette condizioni generali. La sedia...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- Sedie Cab 412 di Mario Bellini per CassinaBy Mario BelliniLocated in Minerbio, BOCONTATTARE PER CONOSCERE LE REALI SPESE DI SPEDIZIONE. Set di 2 sedie Cab 412 in pelle blu notte di Mario Bellini per Cassina come nuove, perfette condizioni generali. La sedia Cab ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- Sedie da ufficio EA117 ICF Charles & Ray EamesBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Minerbio, BOCONTATTARE PER CONOSCERE LE REALI SPESE DI SPEDIZIONE. Poltrone Originali in Ottime condizioni generali, leggeri segni d'uso che non vanno ad inficiare su bellezza ed integrità. La ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- Poltrona Wassily Marrone Marcel Breuer KnollBy Marcel BreuerLocated in Minerbio, BOCONTATTARE PER CONOSCERE LE REALI SPESE DI SPEDIZIONE. Poltrona originale di nuova produzione in una bellissima colorazione marrone scuro (testa di moro). Perfette condizioni genera...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- Knoll Studio “Saarinen Executive” Armchair in “Volo” Brown LeatherBy Eero SaarinenLocated in Barrowford, GBOn offer on this occasion is a rare, original “Saarinen Executive Armchair” armchair from the world renown furniture house of Knoll Studio, dressed in a sublime, tactile “American Go...Category
2010s American Modern Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- KNOLL Eero Saarinen Executive Armchairs- Textured Knoll Upholstery 7 availableBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Hudson, NYExecutive armchairs designed by Eero Saarinen and manufactured by Knoll. Have original labels as well as Knoll ticking on underside of each chair. These chairs are all in very good o...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsChrome
- Eero Saarinen for Knoll 'Executive' Armchairs in Leather and OakBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Waalwijk, NLEero Saarinen for Knoll International, dining chair, model 71, oak, patinated leather, United States, design 1948, later production An organic shaped pair of chairs designed by Eero...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsOak, Leather
- Restored Set of (8) Saarinen for Knoll Executive Armchairs with Wood LegsBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Chattanooga, TNSet of eight vintage Saarinen for Knoll executive chairs. These chairs come in variety of iterations, but I think we have a winning combo here. Our group of Saarinen chairs features ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Maple
- Pair of Eero Saarinen For Knoll Executive ArmchairsBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Brooklyn, NYPair of executive armchairs by Eero Saarinen for Knoll feature black nylon seats with contrasting geometric print backs. These iconic chairs are extrememly comfortable and are the ep...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsChrome
- Saarinen Executive Armchair with Metal Legs for KnollBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Glendale, CAEero Saarinen Executive Chair with metal legs for Knoll. Originally designed in 1946, this late 1990s / early 2000s edition is executed in geometric fabric and metal legs with Knoll ...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsChrome