The Tulip Table Is a Transformative Design For Your Home

There's no doubt that one of the factors that most favored the Finnish designer and architect Eero Saarinen was that he grew up surrounded by influences that, over time, would lead him to become one of the most representative figures of the Mid-Century Modern style. His initiative to innovate, experiment with new forms, materials, and the desire to break design schemes and paradigms was what led him to generate a series of masterpieces such as the Tulip table and others. Saarinen is also among the pioneers of the organic modernist movement in the architectural world, thanks to some works that became a landmark of that era.

Surely, you wonder why a design like the Tulip table became such an influential and important piece in its style. One of the most important reasons is that the creator used biomorphism's resources to give the table its characteristic shape, defined by its organic and curvilinear shapes. This trend is highly valued because it's linked to a movement that began to be part of furniture design in modernism. Like other creators such as Isamu, Saarinen used soft curves and adopted silhouettes for his creations that largely emulated those of living beings. In this way, he proposed an amazing way to redefine the image of tables and chairs as they were conceived until then.

The Tulip Table: a Piece Destined To Greatness

In 1940, Saarinen was invited to work in the workshop of his friend Florence Knoll. The opportunity to work in this company helped him in a very important way to develop his ideas and establish himself as a creative genius. The designer's furniture grew gradually, forming an admirable catalog that more than fifty years later would continue to retain its place of honor as MCM's star designs. The main idea behind the silhouette of the Tulip table was that of a design that completely eliminated the image of the four legs under the table because he considered them an aesthetic disadvantage. Saarinen succeeded in replacing them with one unified support of highly aesthetic attributes. Thus, it was the cylindrical shape of the table that gave it its name, as it opened upwards forming a kind of cone that supported the surface, emulating the shape of a tulip.

Saarinen's previous experience as a sculptor allowed him to experiment more directly and boldly with artistic features to add to his pieces of furniture. In fact, before having the final sketch of the Tulip table, he created several full-scale models sculpted in clay, which he was able to test in various spaces in his own home. One of the most important properties of the vast majority of MCM designs is that they represent the perfect combination of aesthetics and function. The works of this designer are no exception since they weren't only amazing pieces that at first glance looked like works of art but they were also very comfortable to use, taking into account that the user could place the legs under the table very comfortably, without tripping over all four legs.

The best news about Eero Saarinen's most important designs is that, as usual, there are now very faithful imitations of his work. An example of this is the Tulip table replica by Manhattan Home Design, a product that perfectly emulates the characteristics of the original. In fact, the Tulip table reproduction is the perfect option to embellish your surroundings with all the modernism's aesthetics and functionality!