Weird Things Design Types Love: The Tulip Table

Alas, my friends, this is one I cannot explain. I’ve never been particularly drawn to Finnish designer Eero Saarinen’s famous Tulip table, which was introduced in 1956 and is thus more than 50 years old. It reminds me of the original Star Trek TV series, nothing warm about it, just functional – and so just doesn’t fit in with my design personality. I’m sure I’d think of it for the right house and under the right circumstances… but personally, it’s just not my thing. Clearly I’m missing the appeal.

Lauren Liess, whose design style is one I just adore, even has one in her breakfast nook:

Image from Lauren Liess Interiors

Clearly, she ‘gets’ it.

The whole point of the Tulip table, according to Saarinen, was to “clear up the slum of legs in the U.S. home.” Slum of legs? Really? Slum? I can understand calling it clutter, but I tend to appreciate tables with five to eight legs!

Saarinen was close friends with Florence Knoll of Knoll Studios, and the tulip series is one of the first furniture groups he designed while still working for his father, Eliel Saarinen. Others included the Womb chair and the never-popular Grasshopper lounge chair (which looks to me like it might stab somebody, so I can see why it never took off).

By the way, if the name Saarinen sounds familiar, you may recall his architectural design firm Saarinen, Swansen and Associates was behind the St. Louis Arch in Missouri.

So, with my “I don’t liove tulip-tables” confession over with, I asked a few other designers and bloggers what they like (or do not) about the tulip table. What draws them to it? Why do they like it? Is it the shape, or something else?

The first to reply back was Carol Beck of House and Home Defined.

“Tulip tables?  Okay, honestly, I just can’t warm up to plastic.  I know they are of the moment, that they can be an eclectic nod to the past mid-century, but nonetheless, I haven’t often seen them used that make me use the words “love it!”  Yes, I know they can be done in wood (which to me then looses its appeal, oddly enough), but I still think of the plastic iconic, and I can’t get excited.   Unless, of course, I mixed a white one with tall, black comb-back chairs  on a black and white, braided, round rug in a farmhouse kitchen.  Did I just design a space with one?  Lol!!  Maybe I could like them…”

By the way, you have to check out this awesome transformation of a living room by Carol – mixing traditional with southwestern! A challenge no matter how you look at it, but she pulled it off and it looks lovely!

My friend Kim Lemmon of Chattafabulous chimed in with her thoughts:

If I had been asked to comment on the Tulip table 10 years ago, it would have been an emphatic “Heck no”.  But things have a way of growing on you, especially if you’re seeing them in well-designed spaces.  At this point in my life, I would respond with a “qualified” yes.   Normally, I gravitate to classic pieces, but I also realize – in design – that the beauty is truly in the mix.  So IF the tulip table is used with some more classic pieces then I give it a thumbs up (I’m envisioning our Tulip table surrounded by ultra traditional English dining chairs or even rustic American Windsor chairs). I saw a very nice Tulip table at Smart Furniture here in Chattanooga a while back and thought it was completely stunning, even though it was displayed with other very modern pieces.   There was something about the simplicity of its design and the quality of the materials used (it had a gorgeous thick Carrera marble top) that made me fall in love a little bit.

If you’re in the Chattanooga area or passing through, don’t miss her booth at Merchants on Main, which is always filled with fantastic goodies found at estate auctions (but I hope those white porcelain fish are still there today so I can snap them up!).

Dayka Robinson of Dayka Robinson Designs “gets” it too:

I love the Saarinen Tulip table! It’s a classic design that, for me, never goes out of style. My style is best described as “Vintage Modern”, so I love to mix newer pieces with reupholstered and refinished vintage finds. When you mix different styles of furniture together, the Saarinen Tulip table (dining or coffee) acts as the perfect bridge to make an eclectic mix visually work. The clean & sleek base is topped by a thin natural marble/granite top which makes for the perfect modern pedestal dining (or coffee) table. While it’s been done time and time again, in my eyes–you can never go wrong with a Tulip table!

Check out her fabulous new blog design – it’s so “her” and she’s making me jealous that I haven’t moved forward with changing this place up a bit – also don’t miss the camelback sofa makeover she posted earlier this week. Droolworthy in the extreme.

And last but not least, Abby Manchesky of A Delightful Design chimed in with another positive note for Saarinen’s famous table:

 ”I love the tulip table.  It’s a stylish classic with a modern twist.  My favorite space to use it is a breakfast area off a kitchen, or a small dining room.  I think it is the perfect way to mix modern and traditional.  Push it up against a beautifully upholstered corner bench in your kitchen.  Use it with fun colored chairs.  The tulip table is a playful touch to any space!”

Abby just recently did a design board that included a tulip table – which is how I knew she would be so perfect to add her voice to this post!

Some great examples of how to mix and match chairs with the Tulip table – even with a “slum of legs”:

Jonathan Adler

Via Decorhappy.com

Image courtesy of morewaystowastetime.blogspot

Image courtesy of Woodson & Rummersfield Design

Image courtesy of Decorpad

So there you have it!

On a side note, while looking for images for this post, Dave walked in to say hi, looked at my screen and asked “What is that?”

Me: “A tulip table”

Dave: “Yeah, that’s pretty ugly.”

I should have told him it was our new dining table.

I also found this picture from La Dolce Vita- combining the oblong tulip table, ghost chairs AND a Sputnik-style light fixture! It’s a Weird Things party!

Special thanks to Abby Manchesky, Dayka Robinson, Kim Lemmon and Carol Beck for their contribution to this post! Check out these fabulously talented design mavens and their blogs!

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