Eero Saarinen was one of the protagonists of the mid-century modern design since its beginning in the early 40s. Already during his university years he got involved with some of the future decades design masters as Charles Eames, with who collaborated on several projects. The evolution of one of this projects, was the Womb Chair.
The Womb Chair, launched onto the American market in the late 1948 and in more or less continuous production ever since, represents one of the most commercially successful and popular outcomes of Eero Saarinen's experiments with the use of organic shell-type seats in furniture design.
He started these experiments with plywood already with Charles Eames for the New York's Museum of Modern Art 'Organic Design in Home Furnishings' competition, in 1941. He moved away soon from the plywood to concentrate on the use of the glass-fibre reinforced synthetic plastics for the seats; as in the final the final design of the Womb Chair.
The frame supported with thin rod legs kept the design light and the slim layer of padding made the seat comfortable enough. One of the biggest Saarinen's concern designing the Womb Chair was to let people seat in many different and comfortable positions; his background and expertise as sculptor helped him to create three-dimensional forms to achieve his goal.
Modern people seated, in fact, in many different new ways -that in the past would have been considered impolite- Saarinen noticed this and wanted to create a modern chair to satisfy the new needs. On the Womb Chair is, in fact, possible to draw the legs up on the seat, to slouch and to lounge. Its enfolding design allows users to withdraw and shelter themselves on the modern world: a modern chair for a modern society.
The Womb Chair, launched onto the American market in the late 1948 and in more or less continuous production ever since, represents one of the most commercially successful and popular outcomes of Eero Saarinen's experiments with the use of organic shell-type seats in furniture design.
He started these experiments with plywood already with Charles Eames for the New York's Museum of Modern Art 'Organic Design in Home Furnishings' competition, in 1941. He moved away soon from the plywood to concentrate on the use of the glass-fibre reinforced synthetic plastics for the seats; as in the final the final design of the Womb Chair.
The frame supported with thin rod legs kept the design light and the slim layer of padding made the seat comfortable enough. One of the biggest Saarinen's concern designing the Womb Chair was to let people seat in many different and comfortable positions; his background and expertise as sculptor helped him to create three-dimensional forms to achieve his goal.
Modern people seated, in fact, in many different new ways -that in the past would have been considered impolite- Saarinen noticed this and wanted to create a modern chair to satisfy the new needs. On the Womb Chair is, in fact, possible to draw the legs up on the seat, to slouch and to lounge. Its enfolding design allows users to withdraw and shelter themselves on the modern world: a modern chair for a modern society.
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