Eero Saarinen Womb Chair by Knoll
By Eero Saarinen, Knoll
Located in Jensen Beach, FL
Iconic Womb chair designed by Eero Saarinen.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Lounge Chairs
Materials
Chrome
Iconic Designs
Womb ChairBy Eero Saarinen
About the Design
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 Womb 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.
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Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman in Zebra
$17,800 / set
Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman in Zebra
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Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair in Zebra
$16,800 / item
Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair in Zebra
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Note: We have a collection of vintage Eero Saarinen Womb chairs and loveseat settees undergoing restoration and can offer the pieces in multiples and with custom upholstery options. ...
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Materials
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A favourite of the Forsyth design team! We have an incredible collection of vintage chairs and design icons waiting for a new life. Our upcycled Womb chairs are some of our most p...
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Timeless and iconic mid century modern Womb chair designed in 1948 by Eero Saarinen in response to Florence Knoll's request for a comfortable chair that felt like a basket of pillows...
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Early Restored Mid Century Ivory Wool Womb Chair by Saarinen for Knoll Multiples
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Note: We have a collection of vintage Eero Saarinen Womb chairs and loveseat settees undergoing restoration and can offer the pieces in multiples and with custom upholstery options. ...
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Black Leather Eero Saarinen for Knoll Womb Chair and Ottoman
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Category
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Set of Two beige Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman for Knoll, USA, 1960s
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Set of two Early Eero Saarinen womb chairs and ottoman for Knoll, USA - 1960s. Newly upholstered in a Knoll fabric. The measurements giv...
Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
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Vintage Womb Lounge Chair in Brown Cato Wool, Eero Saarinen for Knoll Studio
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This vintage Womb lounge chair designed by Eero Saarinen for Knoll is from the 1990s as evidenced by the stamped signature and Knoll Studio mark on the leg. This authentic vintage ch...
Category
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Womb Chair & Ottoman in Performance Gray Chenille by Eero Saarinen for Knoll
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Good design is often born from a desire to challenge the norm. In the late 1940s, friends and collaborators Florence Knoll and Eero Saarinen found themselves disillusioned by the rig...
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Lead Time: Please allow 10 to 12 weeks to restore a vintage Womb Chair and Ottoman in our wavy New Zealand sheepskin "Eero Saarinen designed the groundbreaking Womb chair at Flore...
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Materials
Chrome
Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman in Dedar Boucle
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Located in SAINT LOUIS, MO
Lead Time: Please allow 10 to 12 weeks to restore a vintage Womb Chair and Ottoman in Dedar Boucle. "Eero Saarinen designed the groundbreaking Womb cha...
Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Materials
Chrome
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Category
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Eero Saarinen for Knoll Womb Chair and Ottoman in Red Boucle
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Luxurious Soft Womb Chair, by Saarinen for Knoll Switzerland Production, 1960s
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The Womb Chair was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1946 at the request of Florence Knoll, who wanted a chair that would provide complete comfort: “like a basket full of pillows.” Saarin...
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A favorite of the Forsyth design team! In stock, ready to ship. “Eero Saarinen designed the groundbreaking Womb Chair at Florence Knoll's request for ‘a chair that was like a bask...
Category
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Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman in Australian Sheepskin
By Knoll, Eero Saarinen
Located in SAINT LOUIS, MO
A favourite of the Forsyth design team! We have an incredible collection of vintage chairs and design icons waiting for a new life. Our upcycled womb chairs are some of our most popular designs. This womb chair and ottoman will be made to order with the finest Australian sheepskins...
Category
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Materials
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Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman in Patagonia Shearling
By Knoll, Eero Saarinen
Located in SAINT LOUIS, MO
A favourite of the Forsyth design team! We have an incredible collection of vintage chairs and design icons waiting for a new life. Our upcycled womb chairs are some of our most p...
Category
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Materials
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Eero Saarinen Womb Chair in Charcoal Grey Boucle Wooly Fabric
By Eero Saarinen
Located in Saint Louis, US
Sink into effortless comfort with the iconic Eero Saarinen Womb Chair, reimagined in luxurious charcoal grey boucle. Perfectly reupholstered with a plush feather and foam insert, thi...
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Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Materials
Bouclé
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