Italian Round Laminate Tulip Table by Saarinen for Knoll, 1956
View Similar Items
Italian Round Laminate Tulip Table by Saarinen for Knoll, 1956
About the Item
- Creator:Knoll (Manufacturer),Eero Saarinen (Designer)
- Design:Saarinen Pedestal TableSaarinen Pedestal Series
- Dimensions:Height: 29.14 in (74 cm)Diameter: 47.25 in (120 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1956
- Condition:
- Seller Location:MIlano, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4860219349891
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.
- Italian Modern Round Dining Table in White Metal and Solid Wood, 1970sLocated in MIlano, ITItalian modern Round dining table in white metal and solid wood, 1970s Dining table with round thick top of large diameter in solid wood. T...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMetal
- North Europa Midcentury Oval Round Wooden Dining Table with Extensions, 1960sLocated in MIlano, ITNorth Europa midcentury Both oval and round Wooden dining table with extensions, 1960s Solid wood dining table. The table has two extensions in the center, in fact the table top can...Category
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWood
- Italian Mid-Century Garden Table in White Wrought Iron and Glass, 1960sLocated in MIlano, ITItalian mid-century Garden table in white wrought iron and glass, 1960s Garden table with white painted wrought iron structure. The legs are finely worked. The round top, in thick g...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
MaterialsWrought Iron
- Italian Mid-Century Garden Table in White Wrought Iron and Glass, 1960sLocated in MIlano, ITItalian mid-century garden table in white wrought iron and glass, 1960s. Garden table in white painted wrought iron structure. The legs have decorative curls. The rectangular top in...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsIron
- Squared Dining Marble Table by Gianfranco Frattini, 1985By Gianfranco FrattiniLocated in MIlano, ITSquared dining marble table by Gianfranco Frattini, 1985 Absolute masterpiece by Gianfranco Frattini coming from his private house in Italy. This sculptural table is composed by a s...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMarble, Metal
$22,932 / item - American Mid-Century White Laminate Metal Coffee Table Mod.Tulip by Knoll, 1960sBy KnollLocated in MIlano, ITAmerican Mid-Century Modern white laminate wood and metal Coffee table mod. Tulip by Knoll, 1960s Coffee table mod. Tulip with white laminate round top. Base in white painted metal. ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Eero Saarinen for Knoll 'Tulip' Dining Table with Carrara Marble TopBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Waalwijk, NLEero Saarinen for Knoll International, 'Tulip' dining table, Carrara marble, metal, United States, 1950s/1960s This iconic pedestal table from the Tulip collection is designed by Ee...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMarble, Metal
- Tulip Round Coffee Table by Saarinen for KnollBy Eero Saarinen, KnollLocated in New York, NYTulip coffee table by Saarinen for Knoll. USA, cira 1960 to 1970. Signed with early Knoll red/white label. Features a 36 inch round top in matte white laminate with matte white...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
$2,500 Sale Price30% Off - Mid Century Eero Saarinen for Knoll Dining Table, Center Table, RefinishedBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Stamford, CTMid-Century Modern Eero Saarinen for Knoll dining table refinished, Vintage From the late 1940s through the 1950s Eero Saarine...Category
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Eero Saarinen for Knoll Early Tulip Table Cast Iron Base & White Laminate 54"By Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Philadelphia, PADesigned in 1957 by Eero Saarinen, this table was produced by Knoll shortly thereafter, dated to circa 1961 by the label un the underside, making this one of the earliest tables out ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsIron
- Eero Saarinen Tulip Dining Table by KnollBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Highland, INSaarinen's iconic design never goes out of style and works beautifully with almost any dining chairs. This wonderful vintage example from 1967 features a heavy base of cast iron supp...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsSteel
- Eero Saarinen for Knoll Mid Century Tulip TableBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Countryside, ILEero Saarinen for Knoll mid century Tulip table This dining table measures: 47.25 wide x 47.25 deep x 28.5 inches high, with a chair clearan...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMetal