In the 1950s Saarinen designed a series of pedestal furniture for Knoll, hoping to create a clean visual style that eradicated what he called the "slum of legs" that he thought sullied many chairs. The pieces, which included the "Tulip" chair and side table, were actually made from both fiberglass and aluminum, but he painted the entire base white in order to make it look as though it had been made from a single material. Saarinen died very young; leaving behind children from two marriages and a blossoming career that embraced a new breed of modernism in which there are very few straight lines.