Womb Chair (1947 - 1948)

Designed by Eero Saarinen (1910 - 1961) and manufactured by Knoll International, USA.

Molded of fiberglass seat shell and loose seat cusions upholstered in fabric-covered latex foam, supported on chromium-plated or enamelled tubular steel frame, with nylon swivel glides.

Eero Saarinen collaborated with Charles Eames on several organic chair designs for the Museum of Modern Art's Organic Design in Home Furnishings' competition. They won joint first place in tow categories with seat furniture that attempted to harmonize form, function and materials. In this search for aesthetically pleasing, unified design, they revolutionized traditional concepts of chair design. Although they managed to consolidation of seat, back and arms in a single moulded plywood shell, Saarinen still considered the legs a problem in visual terms.

The Womb chair, or No. 70, of 1947, first produced by Knoll in 1948, represents Saarinen's pursuance of an organically inspired design in synthetic materials. Like Eames, on of his prime concerns with with human anatomy and its relationship to furniture. The Womb chair perfectly illustrates the intentions of Saarinen and Eames: to create chairs that accommodate people according to the way they actually sit, not the way they ought to sit.

After the No. 70 chair appeared in the Norman Rockwell drawing that was featured in The New Yorker magazine, it became known as the Womb chair; its construction was intended to encourage the sitter to curl up into a foetal position and it is considered by many to be one of the most comfortable chairs ever made.