Early Knoll Womb Chair in Sheepskin, Eero Saarinen
View Similar Items
Early Knoll Womb Chair in Sheepskin, Eero Saarinen
About the Item
- Creator:Eero Saarinen (Designer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)Depth: 40 in (101.6 cm)Seat Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1960
- Condition:Reupholstered.
- Seller Location:Raleigh, NC
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5661224144802
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.
- Mid Century Modern Italian Lounge Chairs, a PairLocated in Raleigh, NCThis mid century pair of club chairs have been expertly reupholstered in a soft oatmeal boucle. They have a great architectural look wit...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$8,500 / set - Parsons Chairs with Ottoman, a PairLocated in Raleigh, NCMilo Baughman style parsons chairs with ottoman. These have been newly upholstered in Kravat velvet upholstery. Price is for the 4 pieces, two chairs...Category
Vintage 1980s Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery
$8,500 / set - Midcentury Leather Club Chairs, a PairBy Adrian PearsallLocated in Raleigh, NCWonderful pair of wide and low profile lounge chairs. Newly upholstered in distressed leather with walnut bases refinished. Comfortable and su...Category
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Walnut
$7,250 / set - Mid-Century Italian Lounge Chairs, PairLocated in Raleigh, NCMid-century pair of lounge chairs recently imported from Italy. Newly upholstered in G P and J Baker velvet. Brass sabots finish the maple legs. In the style of Goo Ponti...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBrass
$9,600 / set - Vladimir Kagan "Rockstar" Lounge Chair with OttomanBy Vladimir Kagan, American LeatherLocated in Raleigh, NCDating to the early 2000s this rocking chair and ottoman were some of Vladimir Kagan's late work with American Leather. This set has been newly upholstered in Dedar Milano Tiger Mou...Category
Early 2000s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Velvet
- Ward Bennett Cube Lounge Chairs, Brickel Furniture- A PairBy Brickel Associates, Ward BennettLocated in Raleigh, NCVintage pair of lounge chairs newly upholstered in a patterned mohair fabric. Classic Knoll style cube chairs comfortable and attractive.Category
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery
- Eero Saarinen vintage Womb Chair and Ottoman for KnollBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated 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
- Eero Saarinen Rare and Early 'Womb' Chair in Grey Upholstery and MetalBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Waalwijk, NLEero Saarinen for Knoll, early model 'Womb' chair, fabric and metal, United States, design 1946-1948 This shelled, cushioned lounge chair is designed between 1946 and 1948 by Eero ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Early Eero Saarinen “Womb” ChairBy Eero SaarinenLocated in Lake Worth Beach, FLArtist/Designer: Eero Saarinen (Finnish-American, 1910-1961); Knoll Additional Information: Chair is upholstered in Jack Lenor Larsen fabric. Marking(s); notes: no marking(s) appar...Category
Mid-20th Century American Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair in Australian SheepskinBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOWe have an incredible collection of vintage chairs and design icons waiting for a new life. Our upcylced womb chairs are some of our most popular designs. This womb chair will be made to order with the finest Australian sheepskins...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSheepskin
- Early Womb chair by Eero SaarinenBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Brussels, BEThe Womb Chair, designed by Eero Saarinen and produced by Knoll in the 1950s, is a icon of mid-century design. Its curves and form redefine comfort, offering relaxation in any space....Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsFabric
$7,197 / item - Early Wool Womb Chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll, 1960sBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Aachen, NWEarly 2-tone wool Womb chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll. The groundbreaking Womb chair was designed in 1948 by Eero Saarinen at Florence Knoll's request for "a chair that was lik...Category
Mid-20th Century American Lounge Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
$7,120 Sale Price20% Off