With the Pedestal Collection, Eero Saarinen vowed to eliminate the "slum of legs" found under chairs and tables with four legs. He worked first with hundreds of drawings, which were followed by ¼ scale models. Since the compelling idea was to design chairs that looked good in a room, the model furniture was set up in a scaled model room the size of a doll house.

Drawing on his early training as a sculptor, Saarinen refined his design through full scale models, endlessly modifying the shape with clay. “What interests me is when and where to use these structural plastic shapes. Probing even more deeply into different possibilities one finds many different shapes are equally logical—some ugly, some exciting, some earthbound, some soaring. The choices really become a sculptor’s choice.”

Saarinen was assisted by Don Petitt, of Knoll’s Design Development Group, who introduced several ingenious methods of model making. Together with a Knoll design research team, they worked out the problems arising in production. Full scale models became furniture and, with family and friends acting as “guinea pigs,” the furniture was tested in the dining room and living room of the Saarinen house in Bloomfield Hills.

L107 X D70 X H39 CM

 

Base: Original Saarinen design. Heavy moulded cast aluminium. Black and white bases are protected with Rilsan. Platinum base has a polyurethane coat with transparent finish.

Top: Bevel-edged satin smooth laminate, marble or veneer. Marble coated with transparent polyester to avoid use associated stains.

The 1cm difference in height between the tables with laminate/veneer tops and marble tops is due to the top thickness.

Marble top - 2cm thick
Laminate/Veneer top - 3cm thick

Note: Prices vary
Please specify Top  finish 
Veneer: natural maple, natural oak, ebonised oak, walnut, teak, santos rosewood
Laminate: white
Marble: 
Arabescato White with grey veining
Nero Marquina Rich black with white random veins
Calacatta White/ivory with veins that can vary from yellow to green with hints of red/brown
Brown Emperador random light brown and/or white veining
White This is not Pure White
Verde Alpi Green hues vary in tones and intensity