Womb Settee

Overview

The Womb Settee (model 73L) is the two-person version of Eero Saarinen's Womb Chair, dated 1948 on Knoll's design-plan page and reintroduced by Knoll in 2015.

Construction

• Reinforced fiberglass shell on a plywood platform
• Polyester fiber padding with a foam core; separate seat and back cushions
• Steel rod frame in black powder coat, polished chrome or gold plating; stainless steel and nylon glides
• Fabric, suede or leather upholstery

Specifications

• W 62¾" × D 34" × H 35½" (1594 × 864 × 902 mm); seat height 16", arm height 20½"

Built for a corporate complex

Knoll's page says the settee was developed in anticipation of Eero Saarinen's General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, a complex of twenty-five buildings that needed furnishings for over 5,000 people. It was not one of his famous trio, the Model 70, 71 and 72 chairs.

Revisited in 2012

Design Director Benjamin Pardo recalls that Knoll met the same challenges as in the late 1940s; the plastic shell's flexibility, an asset in other models, proved problematic in the Model 73. The settee was welcomed back in 2015.