Architecture & design
Pipsan Saarinen Swanson
1905–1979 · interior, textile and industrial designer
Finnish-American designer, daughter of Eliel Saarinen, who spent her working life at Cranbrook and in Bloomfield Hills designing interiors, textiles and furniture.
- Born
Kirkkonummi, Finland- Died
Bloomfield Township, Michigan
aged 74- Birth name
- Eva-Lisa Saarinen
- Also known as
- Eva-Lisa Saarinen
- Detroit years
- 1925–1979
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Pipsan Saarinen came to Michigan with her family as a young woman when her father began designing Cranbrook, and she worked on the decoration of its buildings from the start. In 1926 she married the architect J. Robert F. Swanson, and the couple later partnered with Eliel and Eero in the Bloomfield Hills firm Saarinen, Swanson and Saarinen, with Pipsan heading interior design. She belonged to the celebrated generation of Cranbrook teachers and students sometimes called its golden moment, and she taught the school's first class in contemporary furniture design. Her work ranged from painted decoration and textiles to modern furniture and household products for American manufacturers, and to interiors for private houses such as the Koebel House in Grosse Pointe. She lived in the Bloomfield area for more than fifty years and died at her home in Bloomfield Township in 1979.
Highlights
- Taught Cranbrook's first contemporary furniture design class
- Head of interior design at Saarinen, Swanson and Saarinen
- Interiors for the Koebel House in Grosse Pointe
- Designed modern furniture, textiles and housewares for US manufacturers
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1925–1950s
Cranbrook Academy of Art
Where she worked on campus interiors and taught contemporary furniture design.