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Womb Chair  

Definition

  • The Womb Chair was the second piece Eero Saarinen designed for Knoll. Eero Saarinen and Hans Knoll's working relationship had its roots at the Cranbook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Knoll and his wife Florence Schust (partner and co-designer) commissioned Saarinen to design innovative furniture based on an industrial aesthetic. At Florence's suggestion, Saarinen continued the development of the wooden chair with which he and Charles Eames had won the 1940 MOMA competition. The Womb Chair was a three-dimensional essay that reflected Saarinen's idea of how the post-war citizen should sit. Comfort, technological innovation and individual expression were the three pillars of his design. The architect created a chair that allows the body to assume several informal postures, seeking to show that modern furniture could be comfortable and welcoming without losing its contemporary edge. The womb's reference, as Saarinen himself pointed out, demonstrates the popularization of psychoanalysis in post-war culture. The chair is composed of an upholstered fiberglass shell-shaped frame and supported by a steel base with a polished chrome finish, the Womb Chair gained almost immediate recognition. It became a timeless object. The design, which retains the separation between the seat and legs, clearly derives from Saarinen's earlier work. Since its introduction, the Womb Chair has not been discontinued.

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https://data.arxiuvalencia.eu/vocabulary/c_956fd015

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