Grasshopper Chair (Model 61)
Design Date 1946
Designer Eero Saarinen (1910–1961, American, b. Finland)
Manufacturer Knoll International (1938–present), New York, NY
Media laminated birch frame with original fabric upholstery
Dimensions 35 1/2 x 30 1/4 x 34 inches
Eero Saarinen studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where his father Eliel was the founding director. At Cranbrook he met life-long friend Florence Knoll; this is the first lounge chair he designed for the Knoll company. It got its name, Grasshopper Chair, because the curved bentwood arms/legs of the chair reminded Saarinen of a grasshopper’s hind legs. The seat was meant for relaxing and leaning back to read or decompress after a long day’s work. The bent laminated wood frame was a material that had been used for aviation during WWII and after the war was adapted for furniture manufacturing.
ON VIEW in Modern Gallery 7
Markings unmarked
Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Accession Number 2004.1993
