S9.com / Biographies /
Saarinen, Eero
Born: 1910 AD
Died: 1961 AD, at 51 years of age.
Nationality: Finnish
Categories: Furniture Designer
Died: 1961 AD, at 51 years of age.
Nationality: Finnish
Categories: Furniture Designer
1910 - Born on August 20th in Kirkkonummi, Finland, to Loja, a weaver and photographer, and architect Eliel Saarinen, one of the founders of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Eero was primed from the start to take a place among the designers and architects developing and strengthening an environment primed to change the domestic and industrial face of the nation.
1923 - Saarinen moved with his parents to the United States.
1929 - He left to study in Paris.
1930-1934 - Returned to enroll in the architecture program at Yale.
1937 - After graduating he worked briefly as a furniture designer with Norman Bel Geddes, but left to join his father's architecture practice in Ann Arbor, renamed Saarinen and Saarinen upon his inclusion.
1940 - He was introduced to Charles Eames and they collaborated on a series of furniture that would dominate the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" show at the MoMA.
1946 - In the late forties Saarinen designed a number of curvy, sculptural chairs for Knoll. Of the pieces that became well-known, the "Grasshopper" chair was made in bent plywood with an upholstered seat.
1947 - Saarinen won a competition to design the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis and his enormous, simple arch design became the popular "Gateway to the West".
1948 - The "Womb" chair revisited the shape of the "Conversation" chair, updating and improving the cozy design and adding an ottoman and sofa to the series.
1950 - Saarinen designed a series of pedestal furniture for Knoll, hoping to create a clean visual style that eradicated what he called the "slum of legs" that he thought sullied many chairs.
1953-1960 - He designed Kresge Auditorium and Kresge Chapel at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US Embassy in London and Dulles International Airport.
1961 - Saarinen died very young on Spetember 1st in Ann Arbor; leaving behind children from two marriages and a blossoming career that embraced a new breed of modernism in which there are very few straight lines.
1923 - Saarinen moved with his parents to the United States.
1929 - He left to study in Paris.
1930-1934 - Returned to enroll in the architecture program at Yale.
1937 - After graduating he worked briefly as a furniture designer with Norman Bel Geddes, but left to join his father's architecture practice in Ann Arbor, renamed Saarinen and Saarinen upon his inclusion.
1940 - He was introduced to Charles Eames and they collaborated on a series of furniture that would dominate the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" show at the MoMA.
1946 - In the late forties Saarinen designed a number of curvy, sculptural chairs for Knoll. Of the pieces that became well-known, the "Grasshopper" chair was made in bent plywood with an upholstered seat.
1947 - Saarinen won a competition to design the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis and his enormous, simple arch design became the popular "Gateway to the West".
1948 - The "Womb" chair revisited the shape of the "Conversation" chair, updating and improving the cozy design and adding an ottoman and sofa to the series.
1950 - Saarinen designed a series of pedestal furniture for Knoll, hoping to create a clean visual style that eradicated what he called the "slum of legs" that he thought sullied many chairs.
1953-1960 - He designed Kresge Auditorium and Kresge Chapel at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US Embassy in London and Dulles International Airport.
1961 - Saarinen died very young on Spetember 1st in Ann Arbor; leaving behind children from two marriages and a blossoming career that embraced a new breed of modernism in which there are very few straight lines.
Page last updated: 2:50am, 08th Mar '07 |
Related Books
![]() |
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future (Hardcover - Nov 1, 2006) From the swooping concrete vaults of the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport to the 630-foot-tall Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the iconic designs of Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) captured the aspirations and... ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Eero Saarinen: An Architecture of Multiplicity by Antonio Roman (Paperback - May 11, 2006) It has spawned a recent rash of imitators, but many critics believe it to be the best. Now available in paperback, it’s also the most affordable."The text is filled with crisp, beautiful black- and... ![]() In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. |
![]() |
![]() |
Eero Saarinen on His Work by Eero Saarinen (Hardcover - Oct 17, 1968) ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
The Fourth Dimension in Architecture: The Impact of Building on Behavior : Eero Saarinen's Administrative Center for Deere&Company, Moline, Illino by Mildred Reed Hall and Edward T. Hall (Paperback - Sep 17, 1995) Usually ships in 24 hours |
![]() |
![]() |
Eero Saarinen on His Work by Eero Saarinen (Hardcover - May 17, 1962) |
![]() |
![]() |
Eero Saarinen: Buildings from the Balthazar Korab Archive (Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design&Engineering) (Hardcover - May 26, 2008) A timely portrait of the work of an architect who expanded the vocabulary of modern architecture.Eero Saarinen and Balthazar Korab constitute a unique team in the history of architecture: Saarinen,... Not yet published |
![]() |











