Like many designers after World War II, Eero Saarinen strove to cut excess and make sleek furniture with a focus. One of his focuses — or rather obsessions — was with the bottom of chairs. He felt that no designer had ever focused on a chair bottom before and that it showed. He commented, “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.