One thing that most people desire and aspire to in their homes is to create comfort, a place where you can kick your shoes off after a long, hard day, sit down in some comfortable furniture and relax. What better way than in a womb chair. What furniture could be more comfortable than something that is named after what was probably our most comforting and warm, not to mention safe, place in our whole entire lives: our mothers’ wombs?
The Birth of the Womb Chair
This chair started by way of a challenge issued by Florence Knoll to Eero Saarinen, the Finnish architect and designer. In 1948, Florence Knoll gave a challenge to Saarinen to design a chair that she could comfortably curl herself up in. Fortunately for her, she issued the challenge to the right person. Saarinen proved he was up to this challenge and created a chair that remains popular to this day.
The womb chair, as designed by Eero Saarinen, consists of a lap-type form that somewhat envelopes the body, and thus, is somewhat reminiscent of the wrap-around comfort that we, as babies, found in our mothers’ wombs. This chair remains today one of the most recognized symbols of Scandinavian organic modernism from the mid-1900s, and is one of the many designs that holds Eero Saarinen in infamy. Indeed, if you took a poll amongst architects and designers on their favorite lounge chair, most will agree that Eero Saarinen’s iconic womb chair ranks higher than most.
A Little History on Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen lived in Finland with his parents until 1923. His mother was a textile artist and his father was a well-known architect and town planner. It is obvious, therefore, to see how Eero Saarinen became both an architect and designer. Eero Saarinen developed his reputation as an architect and designer in the United States after the end of World War II. Eero considered architecture a discipline similar to the fine arts, with specific emphasis on sculpture. He considered himself a “form giver”, and thus, all of his designs had a very strong sculptural-type quality. Saarinen was a student at Yale University, after which he traveled through Europe before returning to the United States. At some point Saarinen became associated with Knoll Associates, where the ultimate challenge was issued, resulting in the famous womb chair. Saarinen went on to design many other furniture pieces for Knoll, with many of his chair designs holding an important place in 20th Century history. Eero Saarinen died in 1961 at the young age of 51.
Specifics on the Womb Chair
The Saarinen womb chair is manufactured by Knoll according to exact specifications of Saarinen’s original design. The chair is accompanied by an ottoman for complete comfort. The chair and ottoman are made in the United States and consist of foam which is applied over a molded fiberglass shell, which creates one single piece designed to perfectly recreate a relaxed sitting position. There is a slender steel rod base, which is chrome-plated, with the end product being a polished mirror finish. There are many fabric options which can be used to upholster the chair and ottoman including mohair, boucle and cato. The chair and ottoman come in a variety of colors. This chair is not inexpensive, however. For the chair itself, you will spend somewhere between $3,000 and $4,300. The ottoman costs approximately $1,200. Although your wallet may take a little bit of a hit, purchasing a womb chair will not only fetch you something that is considered a landmark design in our history, but will also buy you a piece of furniture that guarantees to bring you the comfort and relaxation that so many of us desire.