French Modernist Armchair | Ivory Bouclé
When, in the late 1940s, Florence Knoll requested that Eero Saarinen design a chair that she could “really curl up in,” she likely didn’t realize the industrial designer would interpret her description down to the upholstery fiber. The result of her request, Saarinen’s Womb Chair, debuted in 1948 in Knoll’s Classic Bouclé, a nubby textile made from a yarn of, fittingly, curled fibers.
Derived from the French word meaning “curled” or “ringed,” bouclé can refer to a yarn, made from a series of looped fiber, or the fabric made from it. Wool is the most common fiber to undergo the technique, though cotton, linen, and silk have also been used for achieving the fabric’s textured hand. In the decade following Saarinen’s curled-up release, bouclé fabrics spread cross-category, becoming a staple of fashion couture houses (Chanel among the most notable) and of midcentury furniture designers.
This piece is made of natural wood, there will be slight variations in color and grain between chairs. We think this adds to the one-of-a-kind character of this unique seat.