| Tulip Chair | |
| Designer : Eero Saarinen | |
| Date : 1956 | |
| Country : United States | |
| Materials : Aluminium base, Fiberglass frame. Leather or fabric cushions. | |
| Style/Tradition : Modernist | |
| Dimensions: 50x56x80cm (WxDxH) | |
| Colours : White frame. Cushion red. (Cushion variable). | |
The Tulip chair was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1955 and 1956[1] for the Knoll company of New York City.[2] It was designed primarily as a chair to match the complementary dining table. The chair has the smooth lines of modernism and was experimental with materials for its time. The chair is considered a classic of industrial design.
The chair is often considered "space age" for its futuristic use of curves and artificial materials. The design was popularized by its use on the original Star Trek television series (1966–69).
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Eero Saarinen had hoped to produce the chair as a one piece unit made entirely of fiberglass, but this material was not able to support the base, and prototypes were prone to breakage. As a result, the base of the tulip chair is of cast aluminum with a rilsan-coated finish to match the upper shell, giving the appearance of a single unit. The upper shell is molded fiberglass, with a reinforced, plastic bonded finish. The upholstered foam cushion is removable with Velcro fastening.[2]
In the late 1960's the Tulip chair played a highly visible role on the TV show Star Trek, where they appeared on the bridge set of the U.S.S. Enterprise, as well as throughout the rest of the ship. The bridge chairs were slightly modified Tulip chairs that featured plastic appliqués attached to their back panels. After the show was canceled most of the set furnishing were discarded into trash dumpsters. Fortunately, several of the show's bridge chairs were salvaged, and have become highly prized collectibles. An original bridge Tulip chair was offered during the Profiles in History Hollywood Auction #17, selling for $18,000.