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Go to shop12 March 2025
The dining area can be furnished with the collections designed by Eero Saarinen and Warren Platner for Knoll: undisputed and timeless icons.
The modernist style in America is the product of a small group of designers including Eero Saarinen and Warren Platner. Linked by an important period of collaboration, they are still produced by Knoll, an American company that has made modernism its design heart. Saarinen and Platner grew up in the first half of the 20th century and in the 1960s they experienced their professional climax, they have different styles but are united by a formal research that runs towards innovation and experimentation.
This approach also extends to research on materials and processes, aimed at industrial production of the highest level. Their furnishings are authentic functional sculptures united by the extraordinary ability to have a strong character and at the same time be versatile and suitable for interiors with different styles. This is why, as we will see, they are perfect for furnishing a refined dining area, whether in the case of an independent environment or in an open space.
Pedestal table and Tulip chair by Eero Saarinen
One of the recurring choices for the dining area is the Pedestal table designed by Saarinen and produced by Knoll in a series of material variants, including laminate, wood and marble.
The idea of placing the top on a central pedestal was not born by chance but is the result of research carried out by the designer for a good five years. Saarinen does not focus on the top of the table but on the lower part, convinced that the classic bases created confusion and were unsightly. The fruit of his research saw the light in 1958 when Saarinen presented the project that finally resolved that chaos thanks to the introduction of the central pedestal.
The structure is innovative, as is the production: if the top is in cast aluminum, the top is in molded plastic, avant-garde of the time. The same formal approach is applied to the Tulip chair, the first on a single leg, the perfect companion to the table for an iconic and welcoming dining area.
Platner high table and chairs by Warren Platner
In 1966, in a completely different but equally effective way, Warren Platner signs his collection of tables and coffee tables with seats for Knoll. Here the dominant theme is curved steel that simultaneously supports and decorates.
The top is in glass, precisely to let the central leg be seen in all its sculptural beauty. The design is the meeting point between art deco and modernism and if it retains the grace of the former, it carries forward the strength of the latter. The table is accompanied by armchairs suitable for both the dining area and a conversation corner, thanks to the discreet padding of the seat and backrest.
And just as Platner and Saarinen worked side by side, their collections can be combined to create harmonious and characterful configurations. And so the table of one can be combined with the chairs of the other and vice versa, for an elegant, iconic and timeless dining area.
