BARBICAN LIFE ADVERTORIAL
Knoll International celebrates its 75th Anniversary - Eero Saarinen
T
he 12 year old Eero Saarinen emigrated to the USA in 1923 with his family from their native Finland. His father, Eliel was one of that country's most celebrated architects but he had taken his family west in search of new opportunity, settling as head of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. His son grew up in a community saturated in art and creativity. Eero studied sculpture in Paris, architecture at Yale and taught briefly at Cranbrook before setting up his own architectural practice. During his short but supremely productive career he produced work of outstanding diversity such as the TWA Terminal at Kennedy Airport, the Kresge Auditorium & Chapel at MIT and the Gateway Arch (Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) in St. Louis, Missouri.
became subordinated to the form which, in its organic fluidity, related to the way that people sit but also to the spatial characteristics of the Modernist environments in which it was to be located.
Playboy magazine described Eero's furniture as representing "the exuberance, finesse and high imagination' of American mid century design. Knoll has maintained this spirit with the unbroken lineage in the production of Saarinen's furniture as he intended. Knoll International celebrates its 75th Anniversary and its
showroom is easily accessible to Barbican residents in just 7 minutes walk from Barbican Tube at 91 Goswell Road, open 9- 5.30 Mon-Fri, late nights and weekends by appointment (0207 236 6655). Sign up for our Newsletter at
uk@knolleurope.com
“I’m yours.”
An alluring classic. ulip Side Chair ro
by Eero Saarinen. D
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It was also in his role as a furniture designer that he demonstrated his extraordinary ability to combine expressive form, technical innovation and functional needs that has cemented his reputation as a 20th century visionary who was by his own admission "methodical but not cautious". At Cranbrook he came to know Florence Schust (later Knoll) when she was virtually adopted by the Saarinen's as both of her parents had died by the time she was 13 years old. It was natural then that she would go on to work with Eero when she later married Hans Knoll and together they started to build a new kind of furniture company. Saarinen's unprecedented and adventurous designs such as the Conference Chair and the Womb chair proved so enduring that they are stlll in production today. The Pedestal chair, also know affectionately as "the Tulip", was part of a series that along with a range of related tables was commissioned by Florence Knoll in 1955/7. Its revolutionary design was motivated by a unitary aesthetic concern. "I want to clear up the slum of legs. I wanted to make the chair all one thing again" said Saarinen. Structure
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Designed exclusivelyl for Knoll in 1957.
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An alluring classic. Tulip Side Chair b
Fall in love at 91 Goswell Road
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London EC1V 7EX ro
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7 minutes from Barbican +44 (0)207 236 6655 @Knoll_UK
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We are open Mon—Fri
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9am—5.30pm 10am—4pm
9am—5.30pm L 1
Last Sat of the month 10am—4pm
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