The Saarinen stool, also known as the Tulip stool, is part of the Saarinen family of chairs and tables, which has now acquired iconic status in midcentury design. Launched in the 1950s, the Saarinen collection can be seen in a lot of movies, offices, and homes, and it still looks modern today. Due to their clean design, they are suitable to all kinds of interiors and settings.

The son of architect and Cranbrook Academy of Art director Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen studied sculpture in Paris and architecture at Yale. He collaborated on several projects in furniture design with his friend, Cranbrook student Charles Eames, and opened his own architectural practice in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1950. Saarinen designed the Tulip table and chair collection for Knoll in 1956.

Describing what inspired him, Eero Saarinen said that "the undercarriage of chairs and tables in a typical interior makes an ugly, confusing, unrestful world. I wanted to clear up the slum of legs. I wanted to make the chair all one thing again".