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Revolutionary in 1948 and resonant today in homes, workplaces, and the cultural zeitgeist, the Womb Chair persists as a ubiquitous beacon of comfort and icon of modern design. Revolutionary in 1948 and resonant today in homes, workplaces, and the cultural zeitgeist, the Womb Chair persists as a ubiquitous beacon of comfort and icon of modern design. Designed for Florence Knoll by Eero Saarinen, the Womb Chair defied conventions of what a chair could be—from the feminist instinct that sparked its inception to the materials and construction that shaped its organic form.

Innovative and strikingly handsome, the Collection delicate filagree belies its strength and durability. In Bertoia’s own words, “If you look at these chairs, they are mainly made of air, like sculpture, space passes through them.” Harry Bertoia Collection is among the most recognized achievements of mid-century modern design.

In 1925 Breuer created the prototype of the Wassily, a true deconstruction of a club chair in a linear structure, probably derived from that of bicycles, where the soft part for the seat is entrusted to taut straps of fabric or leather. Even today, the production of the Breuer collection is a skilful combination of advanced technology (working of the metal parts) and the hand of the craftsman (making the fabric and leather upholstery).

Florence Knoll always approached furniture design with the larger space in mind. Most important to her was how a piece fitted into the greater design — the room, the floor, the building. Every element of a Knoll-planned space supported the overall design and complemented the existing architecture. Never one to compromise, Florence would often design furniture when she, “needed the piece of furniture for a job and it wasn’t there”.

From the late 1940s through the 1950s, Eero Saarinen designed many of the most recognizable Knoll pieces, including the Tulip Chairs and Pedestal Tables, the Womb Chair, and the 70 Series Seating Collection. His designs used modern materials in graceful ways, helping establish the identity of Knoll during our formative years.

Originally introduced by Knoll in 1966, the Platner Collection is an icon of modern furniture. It captured the “decorative, gentle, graceful” shapes that were beginning to infiltrate the modern vocabulary.