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The son of a renowned Finnish architect, Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) seemed genetically predestined to greatness in the world of modern classics design. Born to architect Eliel Saarinen and his wife Loja in Kirkkonummi, Finland, Eero moved with his parents to the United States in 1923. He studied in Paris and then graduated as an architect from Yale. After working in furniture design for a few years, in 1937 Saarinen joined his father’s architectural practice. Soon he met and began collaborating on dining room furniture design with Charles Eames and Ray Kaiser Eames, both of whom were at the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan that Eliel Saarinen had co-founded. Eero Saarinen and the Eames’ furniture was the showstopper at the 1940 organic furniture exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They were also commissioned by the navy during World War II to jointly design splints and stretchers. Eero Saarinen eventually began designing designer dining room tables for Knoll while the Eames’ designed for Herman Miller. Curves dominated most of Saarinen’s dining table design. Comfortable, rounded chairs – like the Womb – became his forte. Among his most famous architectural projects is the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, for which he designed the gigantic stainless steel Gateway Arch.