Chair #267

PETAL CHAIR

—Designed by Erwine and Estelle Laverne

Circa 1960s. So sweet, isn't it? If Eero Saarinen Tulip Chair was the inspiration for this chair, it blossomed into a large, graceful French tulip. My favorite flower, I think. En mass of course. And white.

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Tulip mania! Most cultivars of the tulip are derived from Tulipa Gesneriana and are used as ornamental plants. The tulip even boasts a whopping 150 bulbous species. Although this familiar flower is most associtated with Holland, it actually originated in the Persian empire. How exotic, yes? I know what you're thinking and I am too... magic carpet. Mass plantings of the tulip really do evoke a magic carpet effect. It's not known who first brought the tulip to northwest Europe, but we can thank the Turks who eventually brought it to Europe, where it eventually made its way to us in the USA. The word tulip, which earlier in English appeared in such forms as tulipa or tulipant, entered the language by way of French tulipe and its obsolete form tulipan or by way of Modern Latin tulīpa, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend. In the early 1600s enthusiasm for the new flowers triggered a speculative frenzy now known as the tulip mania. Tulip bulbs were then considered a form of currency. Cool cash.