Eero Saarinen Mid-Century Knoll Studio Tulip Pedestal Coffee Table 1956 Signed
View Similar Items
Eero Saarinen Mid-Century Knoll Studio Tulip Pedestal Coffee Table 1956 Signed
About the Item
- Creator:Eero Saarinen (Designer)
- Design:Saarinen Pedestal TableSaarinen Pedestal Series
- Dimensions:Height: 15.25 in (38.74 cm)Width: 41.25 in (104.78 cm)Depth: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1956
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Portland, OR
- Reference Number:Seller: BB-86371stDibs: LU4876129653312
Pedestal Table
Finnish-American architect and furniture maker Eero Saarinen (1910–61) declared that he “wanted to clear up the slum of legs” crowded beneath tables. Enter his Pedestal collection, which Knoll launched in 1958. The collection included armchairs, stools and tables of various sizes all balanced on a single supporting leg.
Saarinen got his start in furniture as a student at Michigan’s Cranbrook Academy of Art, where his father, architect Eliel Saarinen, was director. Some of Eero’s earliest work was designing furniture for Kingswood, a Cranbrook school for girls that opened in 1931. The pieces included a table with four gathered legs in order to make room for both people and chairs’ legs.
At Cranbrook Academy, Saarinen met Florence Knoll, who would become a lifelong friend and professional partner, especially when she was leading the Knoll furniture company. He also met fellow designer Charles Eames, and — with support from Ray Eames — they created the molded plywood Organic chair, which placed first in the 1940 Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. As with Saarinen’s future practice, the Organic chair was emblematic of a design approach that was informed by a consideration of the human body as well as the possibilities of new machine processes.
Although America’s involvement in World War II disrupted plans to manufacture the Organic chair, Saarinen continued to explore organic shapes in industrial design. His interest in using seamless plastic forms was clear with his Pedestal series, but the technology was not advanced enough for their stability. Instead, the Pedestal table and its accompanying Tulip armchairs and armless chairs comprised cast-aluminum bases. Each table, stool and chair was crafted with a single, tapered cylindrical leg that descends to a base that flares into a circle, giving the illusion of being one piece. Like his Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the series’ pieces appear to float, and although austere in silhouette, they reflect intense attention to engineering.
The Pedestal table was released with several additional options, including marble and wood veneer for its round and oval tops for dining, side and coffee tables. Because of their modest footprint on a room and streamlined design, these tables can harmonize with nearly any interior style. The design’s status as a mid-century modern classic has inspired numerous imitators, but Saarinen’s original Pedestal table — still manufactured by Knoll — maintains the grace and quality that distinguishes it from the rest.
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 Glass Stainless Steel Barcelona Table Mies Van Der Rohe Knoll 1955By Ludwig Mies van der RoheLocated in Portland, ORAn early pre Knoll production 1955 Mies Van Der Rohe, 252 Barcelona table. The table was purchased as a wedding gift for a prominent West Coast architect in ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsStainless Steel
$1,996 Sale Price20% Off - Mid Century Modern Swedish Large Teak Coffee Table Folke Ohlsson Tingstroms 1960By Tingströms, Folke OhlssonLocated in Portland, ORA good original Mid Century Modern large teak "Frisco" coffee table, designed by Folke Ohlsson for Bra Bohag Tingstroms, Sweden, circa 1960. This large and low 'tray top' coffee tabl...Category
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsTeak
- Pair of Mid Century Cesca Armchairs Marcel Breuer Knoll Cane Tubular Steel 1974By Marcel Breuer, KnollLocated in Portland, ORA good pair of original Mid Century Cesca armchairs, designed by Marcel Breuer and made by Knoll International in 1974. Breuer designed this iconic classic in 1928, the cantilevered ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Mid Century Modern Danish Teak Desk Skovby Møbelfabrik 55" Wide Signed 1970By Skovby Møbelfabrik A/S 1Located in Portland, ORA good Mid Century Modern Danish teak desk, Skovby Møbelfabrik, 1970. The desk is made from well figured teak, on the left side is a bank of three drawers, the desk is joined with a ...Category
Vintage 1970s Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsTeak
- Antique 19th Century Architect's Mahogany Pedestal Desk Drafting Table 1870Located in Portland, ORA good and unusual 19th century antique mahogany pedestal architect's drafting table, desk, circa 1870. The desk/drafting table having a hinged lift up writing/drawing surface that c...Category
Antique 1870s English Victorian Desks
MaterialsMahogany
- Mid Century Modern Danish Rosewood Dining Table Seats 8-10 Farstrup Mobler 1965By FarstrupLocated in Portland, ORA very good Mid Century Modern Danish rosewood extending dining table with two leaves, by Farstrup Mobler, circa 1965. This very stylish Danish MCM table having gently curved sides &...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Tables
MaterialsRosewood
- Eero Saarinen for Knoll Mid Century Tulip Walnut Coffee TableBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Countryside, ILEero Saarinen for Knoll Mid Century Tulip Walnut Coffee Table This coffee table measures: 36 wide x 36 deep x 15.25 inches high All pieces of furniture can be had in what we call r...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Eero Saarinen Tulip Coffee Table for KnollBy Eero SaarinenLocated in Cincinnati, OHA sculptural white tulip coffee table with steel base and Laminate top by designer , architect and artist Eero Saarinen . This iconic table ha...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsSteel
- Mid-Century Modern Knoll 3’ Round Tulip Coffee Table Walnut by Eero SaarinenBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in BROOKLYN, NYMid-Century Modern knoll 3’ round tulip coffee table walnut Laminate top. Base is heavy and has has original off white paint. Has original felt ring around base to protect the floor....Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsSteel
- Vintage Tulip Coffee Table by Eero Saarinen for KnollBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Brooklyn, NYA vintage coffee table by Eero Saarinen for Knoll with white tulip base and laminate top. This icon of mid-century modern design was acquired from the family of the original owner, w...Category
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Mid-Century Modern Eero Saarinen for Knoll Tulip Coffee Table with Walnut TopBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in Philadelphia, PAThis table as acquired from the original owner who had purchased new in 1971. It features a powder coated aluminum base with a walnut top. Manufacturer label.Category
Vintage 1970s North American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsAluminum, Iron
- Mid-Century Modern Knoll oval Tulip Coffee Table white laminate by Eero SaarinenBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in BROOKLYN, NYMid-Century Modern knoll oval tulip coffee table white Laminate top. Base is very heavy and has has original off white paint. Has original threaded center for base. Numbered on base....Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsSteel