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The radical, revolutionary American architect Charles Eames and his artist wife Ray Eames were two of the most influential forces in 20th century furniture design and

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he Eames’ elegant and playful designs charmed the world. Their style, charisma and way of communicating made them superstars. Their chairs in particular are still sought after at auction houses, and are, in fact, still in

production. New versions of the original models are produced un-der the watchful eye of the Eames’ family. Licence holder Vitra, which has owned the rights for more than fifty years, adhere to the following motto: What would Charles and Ray say?

Designer superstars

The master and his muse met at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Mich-igan, where Charles taught industrial design and Ray studied art. Their roles were perhaps shaped the first time they met, as her influence over Charles’ work became very important. Ray worked with painter Hans Hoffman and helped found the organization American Abstract Art-ists. Ray and Charles got married in 1941, after which they moved to California, where they lived and worked together for 40 years.

At Cranbrook, Charles was asked by Finnish architect and de-signer Eliel Saarinen to head the industrial design department. This is also where he met Eero Saarinen, Eliel’s son. They went on to collaborate on a series of moulded plywood furniture pieces, as well

as a project in California called Case Study House – a low-energy house in the post-war spirit.

In 1940, the Museum of Modern Art announced a competition called “Organic Design in Home Furnishing”. Eames and Saarinen won first prize in the storage category, and their work was exhibited at the museum the following year. Thanks to the invention of mould-ed plywood it was now possible to create new shapes of seats, and a process called “cycle welding” made it possible to merge wood with rubber, glass and metal. Eames experimented with new furniture structures made by steel pipes, and turned them into chairs, tables and storage pieces. This experimental work would go on for another thirty years.

After moving to California, Eames continued to experiment with moulded plywood. In 1942, he and Saarinen were tasked with using the new material to create equipment for the US Marines. Moulded splints for broken legs were used to transport hundreds of thou-

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sands of injured soldiers, and would be followed by many other examples of furniture design in mass production settings.

Shortly after the end of the war, Eames continued his work on the new moulding technique, creating designs for chairs, tables, children’s furniture and partition walls – some of them entirely in plywood, others in plywood and steel. He spent a lot of time work-ing on solving individual problems. For example, he introduced “shock mounts”, which were hinges that connect the different parts of furniture pieces. These hinges improved the durability of the thin plywood boards and made the furniture more comforta-ble. The three-dimensional technique used today is more or less the one that Eames developed more than fifty years ago.

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The plywood elephant was exhibited at MoMA in 1945. The elephant – representing playfulness – has never been mass-produced, but a limited edition was made in 2007 for the 100th anniversary of Charles Eames’ birth. It’s both a fun toy and a fine sculpture.

“Toys are not really as innocent as they look. Toys and games are prelu-des to serious ideas.” Charles EamesHerMan Miller anD tHe MuseuM of MoDern art

In 1946, Charles Eames was asked to present his own, sepa-rate exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The most successful furniture pieces at the exhibition were a series of chairs, which would go on to become a commercial success and change modern furniture design. They were pub-lished in designer magazines around the globe, not least in the Italian magazine Domus, which in turn influenced Italian de-signers. The furniture company Herman Miller manufactured many of the pieces, and became a patron of Eames’ designs.

an arcHitectonic icon

Charles Eames built and designed his most famous house to-gether with Eero Saarinen. Following the post-WWII housing crisis, people wanted affordable and accessible housing.

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he “Case Study House Programme” was resource-ef-ficient and progressive, and was founded by the Arts and Architecture Magazine. House #8 was one of the approximately two dozen houses built during

of the project, which started in the mid-40’s and ended in the early 60’s. The house was constructed with inexpensive materials, made possible by technology from WWII. Their Eames’ own home served as a model, and the Eames family lived in the iconic house from 1949 to Charles’ death in 1978. The simple, pre-fabricated exterior is geometric and minimalist – in har-mony with the surrounding environment. The interior’s open planning was arranged by Ray, and features decorative bohemi-an items and plants, organized in a playful way that enhances the cosy atmosphere. There’s a “living space” and a studio. The Eames couple passionately practiced what they preached. They tried out their designs themselves and improved upon them when needed. With the house they wanted to state an idea, rather than creating a concrete, architectonic design. Their grandchild Eames Demetrios, head of The Eames Office and The Eames Foundation, described the house in An Eames Prim-er: “The journey of creating this house – and the finished prod-uct – resonate with many of the themes of their other work: the guest/host relationship, the honest use of materials, universaliz-ing from the specific, and, above all, the learn-by-doing process.”

The house is preserved and can still be visited, if you schedule a visit. Read more at: www.eamesfoundation.org/how-to-visit

life-long success witH plastic cHair

This shell-shaped chair was manufactured at Herman Mill-er’s, with a moulded polyester seat and a base in contrasting materials.

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he chair was made in glass fibre from 1950 to 1993, but when it re-entered production in 2004 the ma-terial was changed to the more eco-friendly poly-propylene.

“Getting the most of the best to the greatest number of peo-ple for the least” was the goal of Eames’ furniture design. Plastic Chair can be found all around the world; in homes, schools, offic-es, restaurants, airports – more or less everywhere.

The chair has become an icon in the world of furniture de-sign and is available in a number of difference models, such as the Plastic Side Chair for the dining room and the Plastic Arm-chair for the living room. In addition, the chair comes in a num-ber of different materials, including a wire base, a steel tube base, a wooden base, an aluminium base, and a height-adjustable base.

tHe Heritage lives on

Eames would constantly re-develop his furniture pieces and products through continuous tests and usage. With that in mind, it makes sense that the designs of Charles and Ray would be further developed even after their deaths. However, there’s a certain question that’s always asked: What would Charles and Ray say? Vitra received the licence for Eames’ products in Eu-

rope and the Middle East in the late 1950s, and was granted full rights for the production of all Eames’ products in the afore-mentioned markets in 1984. La Chaise is made exclusively by Vitra. (Herman Miller owns the other rights/markets).

Other famous, iconic furniture include Lounge Chair and Ottoman – a comfortable set of an armchair and a footstool – as well as La Chaise, Eames Storage Unit and the Hang-It-All coat rack. At many airports around the world you’ll find rows of polished aluminium chairs designed by Eames.

tHe new wire cHair

Wire Chair was created the same year as Plastic Chair (1951) thanks to Charles’ and Ray’s interest in exploring industrial ma-terials and innovative production methods. Lightweight and robust structures were at the core of their philosophy. As with the Plastic Chair, Wire Chair is a thoroughly designed piece of furniture with an organic shape. The seat in chromed steel wire is surprisingly comfortable. At this year’s Milan Furniture Fair, Vitra launched a new Wire Chair in dark powder coating, high-lighting the transparency of the entire construction. The chair is also available with cushions and/or wooden legs. And to answer the question: Yes, I think they would have liked it a lot.

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