Tulip Table - Prime Example of Organic Modernism

Eero Saarinen is a Finnish born designer and architect who grew up surrounded by design. His accomplishments include experimenting with new materials and creating groundbreaking designs, including the Tulip Table. He’s a trailblazer in the American design movement. He was also a pioneer designer and architect of the organic modernist movement.

Some of his renowned works are the TWA Flight Terminal at the Kennedy International Airport. That building is still considered one of the most innovative and symbolic buildings of the modernist era. His famous Tulip Table, redefined the modern movement by including organic and curvilinear forms in the otherwise straight, modern designs of the era.

Saarinen’s legacy remains even to this day. His design of the TWA terminal is being refurbished into a hotel and his designs, like the Tulip Table and Womb Chair, are breaking ground to this day. Believe it or not, it was while working with long time friend Florence Knoll that he further unleashed his creative genius on designing the Tulip Table, if that’s even possible.

He was invited to work in her furniture company in the 1940s. It was working with her that Saarinen also created other furniture pieces, considered the best of the mid century modern era, including the Tulip Table. This piece wasa modernized and innovative take on table design back in the mid twentieth century!

Modernism was high in style, and the furniture design genre was seeing perpetual innovation. It was then that Eero Sarinen devised the idea of the sculptural Tulip Table. He wanted to design a table that was free of all under-table clutter. He dubbed the typical table design as the ‘slum of legs’ which the Tulip Table had to forego.

Considering four-legged tables ‘unrestful and ugly’ with too much clutter to be visually or physically comfy, he came up with the Tulip Table. One that would forego that kind of typical design for something sleeker and much more imaginative. He worked on a number of initial sketches and drawings, which then morphed into scaled models.

Saarinen had sculptor training early in his life, so he drew from that experience and worked on full scale models that were sculpted through clay. He also drew inspiration from the ‘biomorphic’ shapes that were trending during that time. When the prototypes were ready, they were tested in dining and living settings of his home.

At last, the one-legged Tulip Table was born! Perfectly combining function and design, its streamlined effect leaves plenty of leg room under the table. So, the Tulip Table is a product of ingenious innovation and some out-of-the-box thinking. It is simple in design, but also pretty impactful.

To this day, this organic, sculptural Tulip Table is the preferred style of furniture in both modern and contemporary interiors worldwide. It revolutionized the way people thought of table designs. Its fluid form and curvilinear shape were an avant-garde addition that lives up to its name even today.

We hope this inspires you. As you can see, the Saarinen Tulip Table is a prime example of organic modernist movement. Ready to get one of these beauties for your home? For Tulip Table replicas, there’s no place compared to Manhattan Home Design. Browse our catalog!