A Finnish architect and designer, Eero Saarinen firstly studied sculpture in Paris before enrolling in architecture at Yale University. He was awarded a scholarship which enabled him to return to Europe for a few years.

When he got back to America, he entered his father Eliel's architecture studio (a figure of great importance in Nordic expression for the European Art Nouveau movement), contributing to major projects.

Saarinen's alliance with Charles and Ray Eames also developed around this time. Together, they created highly innovative furniture, which earned them a host of prizes during the early 1940s. They also worked on "organic furniture," stipulating a single form out of just one material.

Saarinen's “Tulip” furniture is a primary example of such furnishings, although – due to the limited production technologies of the times – it wasn't possible to produce the tables in a single material, since the leg couldn't support the weight of the top.

Among his most renowned works as an architect are the CBS skyscraper in New York, Dulles Airport in Washington D.C., and the TWA terminal, Kennedy Airport and Lincoln Center in New York city.