Eero Aarnio was born in 1932 in Helsinki, Finland. When he was asked to design a plastic chair for the biggest Finnish furniture company, he created the Ball, which started a new generation of chairs. It was a fiberglass sphere that had a futuristic look of peacefulness and tranquility. From this success he started a series of plastic furniture using shocking colors and plastic.
He frequently disregarded traditional and valid design conventions and used organic shapes that led to a fusion of the seat, frame and legs. He became an ion of the new consumer culture of the 1960s. During the oil crisis of the early 1970s his designs fell out of favor because of his use of polyester and polyethylene. During this period he turned to more natural materials. However, towards the end of the 20th century when the 1960s style became popular again, his chairs went back into production again and he has been able to once again work with plastic.