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Eero Saarinen was born to Eliel Saarine, who was an accomplished Finnish architect and the founder president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Twenty three years after the turn of the twentieth century, Eero Saarinen migrated together with his family members to the United States.
Eero Saarinen plunged into the design world by first studying sculpture at an institution which was called Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris between 1929 and 1930. He later proceeded to Yale University, where he studied architecture graduating four years later in 1934.
After graduating with an architecture degree from Yale University, he was awarded a scholarship which enabled him to travel to Europe. He returned from Europe in 1935 and started a teaching career at Cranbrook Academy of Art. His collaboration with Charles Eames saw them come up with exemplary furniture designs which won them several awards.
Eero Saarinen became a naturalised citizen of the United States of America in nineteen forty. He later joined the military and worked under the Office of Strategic Services, yielding to the demands of one his friends who was also an architect and who played a big role in his recruitment into the army.
His brief in the military included designing disassembly manuals for bombs as well as providing designs for the Situation Room, which was located within the White House. Eero Saarinen worked for the military up to 1944. Six years later, after his father’s death, he established his own design firm which he named Eero Saarinen and Associates.
He had two children from his first wife, whom he divorced. He later married a woman by the name of Aline Bernstein, with whom he had a son. The award that Eero Saarinen won in the “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” while still working for his father propelled him to international recognition. The project which he handed in for the competition was done in collaboration with Charles Eames.
Most of the furniture designs done by Eero Saarinen were produced by the Knoll furniture company. The Knoll Company was owned by a family friend of the Saarinens. In 1948, Eero Saarinen took the first prize in a competition which was meant to come up with the best design for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis. However, the prize was mistakenly sent to his father because during that time he was still working under his father’s tutelage.
Some of the masterpieces that Eero Saarinen came up with during his association with the Knoll Company included the “Grasshopper” lounge chair which was designed in 1946, and the “Womb” chair and settee in 1948 and 1950 respectively. Some of these designs are still being produced today because they are classical designs.
Eero Saarinen also worked together with his father on several architectural designs, including the General Motors Technical Centre in Warren, Michigan. This project served as a marketing tool for the Saarinens as they were called upon by several other companies to design their headquarters. The interiors of these buildings were also designed by the Saarinens, in addition to the furniture.
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