6 EARLY ORIGINAL EERO SAARINEN for KNOLL Executive Side Chairs Priced per chair

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About the Item

We have 6 VERY EARLY all original Eero Saarinen for Knoll Executive side chairs. They are very heavy. Much heavier than the newer production chairs of the same. These chairs are like durable tanks and will last for years to come. Three in red naugahyde and three in black naugahyde.
Own an early original set at a great price.
These are priced per chair- if purchasing less than 6, please indicate color preferences in messages.

These chairs currently sell for between $1500 for base upholstery up to $2510 a piece with leather upholstery from Knoll or Design within Reach. Naugahyde is no longer an option via Knoll.

From Knoll:
The Saarinen Executive Chair, which is now found in dining rooms as often as it is in offices, transformed the notion of what executive seating could be with its sculptural form and modern finishing.Creator: Knoll (Designer),Eero Saarinen (Designer)Design: Executive Armless ChairExecutive SeriesDimensions: Height: 31.5 in (80.01 cm)Width: 22.5 in (57.15 cm)Depth: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)Seat Height: 18.75 in (47.63 cm)Style: Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)Materials and Techniques: Chrome,Naugahyde,SteelPlace of Origin: United StatesPeriod: Mid-20th CenturyDate of Manufacture: 1950sCondition: GoodWear consistent with age and use. Good original condition. Ready for use.Seller Location: Hudson, NYReference Number: 1stDibs: LU1062840264772

Saarinen Executive Armless Chair

Designed by Eero Saarinen

With the founding of the Knoll Planning Unit at Knoll Associates in 1946, the modern open-plan office was born. Soon after the launch of the internationally celebrated design firms workplace-focused division, the Saarinen Executive Armless chair would emerge as one of its seating staples. A departure from more rigid office seating, the 1950 design by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen (191061) offered some of the comfort of his 1948 Womb chair in a more formal shape. Nicknamed that chair with the hole in the back for its sculptural seat back, it fit easily into mid-century boardrooms and corporate cafeterias as part of the harmonious interiors designed by Florence Knoll, a legendary figure in mid-century modernism.

Saarinen and Knoll met while they were studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where Saarinens father, Eliel, was dean. Their lifelong friendship led to some of the most revered designs of the 20th century. Like his work in architecture, from the Gateway Arch to the TWA Flight Center, Saarinens furniture used innovations in postwar materials to create dynamic volumes. The Executive Armless chair expanded on Saarinens ergonomic experiments in molded plywood furniture that he had designed in collaboration with fellow Cranbrook alumnus Charles Eames (with assistance from Ray Eames), work which had been honored in the Museum of Modern Arts Organic Design Competition.

The chairs introduced as the 71 and 72 Series found their initial multipurpose use in the Knoll office interiors but soon were popular in home dining rooms and living spaces. Knoll, Inc. continues to produce the Saarinen Executive Armless chair, with options updating the designs original fiberglass form including an exposed plastic back or upholstered polyurethane shell joined by a contoured plywood seat and sturdy legs in steel or wood.

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Knoll

As a company that produced many of the most famous and iconic furniture designs of the 20th century, Knoll was a chief influence in the rise of modern design in the United States. Led by Florence Knoll, the firm would draw stellar talents such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Eero Saarinen into its compass. Their work would help change the face of the American home and office.

The company was formed in 1938 by the German immigrant Hans Knoll. He first worked with his fellow ex-pat, the Danish designer Jens Risom, who created furniture with flowing lines made of wood. While Risom served in World War II, in 1943 Knoll met his future wife, Florence Schust. She had studied and worked with eminent emigr leaders of the Bauhaus, including Mies, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. She won Knoll over with Bauhaus notions of industrial arts, and an aesthetic that featured flat and tubular metal frames and angular forms. When Hans died in a car crash in 1955, Florence Knoll was appointed head of the company. It was as much through her holistic approach to design a core division of the firm was dedicated to planning office systems as Knoll’s mid-century modern furnishings themselves that she brought about the sleek and efficient transformation of the American workplace.

Today, classic Knoll furnishings remain staples of modern design collections and decor. A history of modern design is written in pieces such as the elegant Barcelona chair created by Mies and Lilly Reich Saarinens pedestal Tulip chair, Breuers tubular steel Wassily lounge chair and the grid-patterned Diamond chair by Harry Bertoia.

As you can see from the collection of these designs and other vintage Knoll dining chairs, sofas and tables on 1stDibs, this manufacturer’s offerings have become timeless emblems of the progressive spirit and sleek sophistication of the best of modernism.