Womb chair

Design Story

Womb Chair from Knoll International

Design

The Womb Chair by the Finnish designer Eero Saarinen was created in 1948 at the suggestion of Florence Knoll. The co-founder of Knoll International, and a good friend of Eero Saarinen, imagined an armchair like a "basket full of pillows" in which she could make herself comfortable. The result is something different, but an armchair that is one of the icons of furniture design and which continues to impress with its elegance and maximum comfort. The spacious, padded seat shell consists of a single ergonomic, concise shape made of fibreglass and supports numerous sitting positions. In connection with the minimalist tubular steel frame, the two embedded cushions and noble covers in a range of colours, the Womb Chair is a cozy and luxurious oasis of calm that provides deep relaxation in any space.

Production

The seat shell of the Knoll Womb Chair is made from fiberglass, padded with high-quality foam and covered with a high-quality textile. The base is constructed from chrome plated and seamlessly welded steel tubing. Like all Knoll furniture, the Womb Chair is produced at production sites in North America and Italy. The special quality of the Knoll International portfolio is ensured not only by the unmistakable designs by established designers, but also by the carefully managed manufacturing processes and exquisite, durable materials. For all in context of production, Knoll International can draw on decades of cross-generational experience in conjunction with innovative technology and in compliance with high environmental standards.

Designer

As son of the famous Finnish architect, and founder of the Cranbrook Academy of Arts, Eliel Saarinen, and the textile artist Loja Saarinen, Eero Saarinen was born into a world of design and architecture: even as a teenager, he helped his father with furniture and fixtures for the Cranbrook Design campus. This was followed by a study of sculpture in Paris and architecture in London, before Saarinen finally returned to the Cranbrook Academy in 1934. There he met not only Florence Knoll, but also Charles Eames, with whom he shared his passion for experimentation, new materials and manufacturing processes. Together they realized numerous projects such as a series of designs for seating furniture for the so-called Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition of MoMA in 1940. Saarinen finally achieved world fame with his Tulip Chair, which was to be followed by many legendary furniture designs. As one of the leading American Modernists, Saarinen was also responsible for numerous famous buildings such as Dulles International Airport in Washington, the CBS building in New York City and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

Historical Context

In the years following the Second World War, an economic upswing, advancing industrialization and the associated technological progress created new materials and production methods in the USA. These were developments from which Eero Saarinen not only benefited as a designer, but which he actively promoted. The best example is the Knoll Womb Chair: in order to even find a suitable manufacturing process for the Womb armchair, Florence Knoll and Eero Saarinen worked with a boat builder from New Jersey who was experimenting with the then new materials fiberglass and synthetic resin. As an architect and designer, Saarinen belonged to the so-called 2nd generation of modernists: like their predecessors from the Bauhaus, they relied on reduction and functionality, but broke with the geometric rigour of the Bauhaus and developed, above all Eero Saarinen, a completely new organic design language.

Manufacturer

The history of the furniture manufacturer Knoll International began in 1938 with the founding of the Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company by Hans Knoll, himself a descendant of one of the world's most important furniture manufacturers. The furniture company of his father Walter Knoll had already emerged from the leather seating furniture factory of his grandfather Wilhelm Knoll. As a young man, Hans Knoll was already familiar with the architectural and design greats of classical modernism such as Mies van der Rohe and Walther Gropius. Florence Schust, who Hans Knoll hired as a room planner and designer, graduated from Cranbrook Academy after previously studying architecture in London. After her marriage in 1946 she, along with Hans Knoll became involved with the management of the company, for all the cooperations with designers such as Harry Bertoia, Isamu Noguchi and Eero Saarinen, cooperations which helped Florence and Hans Knoll build one of the most successful international furniture companies of the 20th century.