At 19, he went to Paris to study sculpture, followed by the Yale School of Architecture. After taking time to travel, Saarinen returned to Cranbrook to teach and design with his father and peers, such as Charles Eames and Florence Knoll.

His first major design, the Tulip Chair, was produced by Knoll in 1948 and began their 15-year collaboration, where he went on to design classics like the beloved Womb Chair. Saarinen was obsessed with revision and took a sculptural approach to his furniture, building hundreds of models and mock-ups to find the most perfect curves, lines, and proportions.