Tulip chair
Encyclopedia
| Tulip Chair | |
| Designer Designer A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a... : Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,... |
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| Date : 1956 | |
| Country Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... : United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
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| Materials : Aluminium Aluminium Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances.... base, Fiberglass Fiberglass Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling... frame. Leather Leather Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:... or fabric cushions. |
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| Style/Tradition : Modernist Modernism Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society... |
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| Dimensions: 50x56x80cm (WxDxH) | |
| Colours : White frame. Cushion red. (Cushion variable). | |
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
in 1955 and 1956 for the Knoll
Knoll (company)
Knoll is a design firm that produces office systems, seating, files and storage, tables and desks, textiles , and accessories for office and for the home. The company also manufactures furniture for the home by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll , Frank Gehry, Maya Lin and...
company of New York City. It was designed primarily as a chair to match the complementary dining table. The chair has the smooth lines of modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and was experimental with materials for its time. The chair is considered a classic of industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
.
The chair is often considered "space age
Space Age
The Space Age is a time period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The Space Age is generally considered to have begun with Sputnik...
" for its futuristic use of curves and artificial materials. The design was popularized by its use on the original Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
television series (1966–69).
Construction
Eero Saarinen had hoped to produce the chair as a one piece unit made entirely of fiberglassFiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
, but this material was not able to support the base, and prototypes were prone to breakage. As a result, the base of the tulip chair is of cast
Casting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
aluminum with a rilsan
Polyamide 11
Polyamide 11 or Nylon 11 is a polyamide bioplastic derived from vegetable oil. It is produced by Arkema under the tradename Rilsan from castor beans. PA 11 is not biodegradable....
-coated finish
Finish
Finish refer to:* Finishing in the distillation of Scotch* Finished good, a good that is completed as to manufacturing but not yet sold or distributed to the end-user* Surface finishing, various industrial processes for modifying a workpiece's surface...
to match the upper shell, giving the appearance of a single unit. The upper shell is molded fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
, with a reinforced, plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
bonded finish. The upholstered foam cushion is removable with Velcro fastening.
Awards
- Museum of Modern Art Award, 1969
- Federal Award for Industrial Design, 1969
- Design Center Stuttgart Award, 1962
Star Trek
In the late 1960's the Tulip chair played a highly visible role on the TV show Star TrekStar Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, where they appeared on the bridge set of the U.S.S. Enterprise, as well as throughout the rest of the ship. The bridge chairs were slightly modified Tulip chairs that featured plastic appliqués attached to their back panels. After the show was canceled most of the set furnishing were discarded into trash dumpsters. Fortunately, several of the show's bridge chairs were salvaged, and have become highly prized collectibles. An original bridge Tulip chair was offered during the Profiles in History Hollywood Auction #17, selling for $18,000.