Born to world famous architect and Cranbrook Academy of Art director Eliel Saarinen and textile artist Loja Saarinen, Eero Saarinen was surrounded by design his whole life. Eero studied at sculpture in Paris and architecture at Yale before returning to Cranbrook himself to work on furniture design and practice architecture with his father. IT was there that he met Charles Eames, with whom he collaborated closely on their molded plywood chair designs. He also met Florence Knoll at Cranbrook, who eventually brought him to Knoll where he designed some of their most well known pieces over the course of 15 years.