Charles and Ray Eames are among the most important American designers of the last century. They are best known for their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design (e.g., aluminium series, lounge chair), industrial design, manufacturing, and the photographic arts.

For an overview of all the Eames products still available, please see below.

HISTORY

Charles and Ray married in 1941 and moved to California where they continued their furniture design work with molding plywood. During the war they were commissioned by the Navy to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers and experimental glider shells. In 1946, Evans Products began producing the Eameses' molded plywood furniture. Their molded plywood chair was called "the chair of the century" by the influential architectural critic Esther McCoy. Soon production was taken over by Herman Miller Inc for the USA and Vitra International for Europe. In 1949, Charles and Ray designed and built their own home in Pacific Palisades, California as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by Arts and Architecture Magazine. Their design and innovative use of materials made this house a mecca for architects and designers from all over the world. It is considered one of the most important post-war residences built anywhere in the world.

In the early 1950s, the Eameses extended their interest and skill in photography into filmmaking. They created over eighty-five short film (2-30 minutes) ranging in subjects from tops to the world of Franklin and Jefferson , from simple sea creatures to the explanation of advanced mathematical and scientific concepts, such as the workings of the computer.

Charles died August 21, 1978. Ray died ten years later to the day. The Eames Office still operates today, run by Charles' daughter, designer Lucia Eames, and one of her sons, Eames Demetrios, releasing their designs in furniture, film, video and other media as well as creating new products.

PHILOSOPHY

Recognizing the need, Charles Eames said, is the primary condition for design. Early in their careers together, Charles and Ray identified the need for affordable, yet high-quality furniture for the average consumer -- furniture that could serve a variety of uses. For forty years the Eameses experimented with ways to meet this challenge, designing flexibility into their compact storage units and collapsible sofas for the home; seating for stadiums, airports, and schools; and chairs for virtually anywhere. Their chairs were designed in four materials -- molded plywood, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, bent and welded wire mesh, and cast aluminum. The conceptual backbone of this diverse work was the search for seat and back forms that comfortably support the human body, using three dimensionally shaped surfaces or flexible materials instead of cushioned upholstery. An ethos of functionalism informed all of their furniture designs. "What works is better than what looks good," Ray said. "The looks good can change, but what works, works."

The Eameses' molded-plywood chair was their first attempt to create a single shell that would be comfortable without padding and could be quickly mass-produced. Throughout the early 1940s, the Eameses and their colleagues experimented with this concept. Discovering that plywood did not withstand the stresses produced at the intersection of the chair's seat and back, they abandoned the single-shell idea in favor of a two-piece chair with separate molded-plywood panels for the back and seat. The chairs -- plus molded-plywood tables and wall screens -- were unveiled to the public in 1946. 

The Eameses' fiberglass chair solved the problem of how to make a seat out of a single body-fitting shell. The progressive quality and moldability of plastic made it even more alluring to the Eameses than plywood or stamped metal. Fiberglass had been used during the war by Zenith Plastics to reinforce plastic on airplane radar domes. Working together, Zenith and the Eameses re-conceptualized the use of the material, creating one of the first one-piece plastic chairs with an exposed rather than an upholstered surface. Zenith began mass-producing fiberglass armchairs in 1950 for the Herman Miller Furniture Company (today Herman Miller, Inc.).  

Inspired by trays, dress forms, baskets, and animal traps, the Eames Office investigated bent and welded wire mesh as the basis for furniture designs. The wire-mesh chair, like the fiberglass chair, was a uni-shell design. The shell could be adapted to various base configurations and upholstery types. Ingenious techniques were developed to mass-produce suitable upholstery, and special molds were created as forms over which to weld the wire shells. The office adapted a resistance-welding technique used for making drawers and developed an innovative method for reinforcing the shell's rim with a double band of wire.

The Eames products are still a core part of the Herman Miller collection in the USA. For Europe, the products were licensed to Swiss furniture brand Vitra, which has used its cooperation with and access to the Eameses to build and define their busines.

PRODUCTS

Organic Furniture Competition (1940)

The Organic Chair is a comfortable small reading chair and was made in 1940 as a contribution to the New York MoMA's "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition. Formally speaking it was ahead of its time, but owing to the lack of manufacturing techniques, never went into series production. It was not until after 1950 that it became possible to manufacture larger quantities of organically shaped seat shells and market them. The first were chairs such as Eames' famous Plastic Armchair or Saarinen's Tulip Chair.

Molded Plywood Experiments (1941-1945)

Plywood tends to splinter when bent into acute angles. To solve this problem, the Eameses and their colleagues cut slits and holes into these experimental chair shells. In 1943 the Plyformed Wood Company became the Molded Plywood Division of the Evans Products Company, whose activities were later taken over by Herman Miller. 

LCW (1945)

Charles and Ray Eames spent many years experimenting with new processes for optimizing the way three-dimensionally moulded plywood fits the contours of the body. Today, LCW, with its moulded plywood seat, backrest and base, is once again available with a hide cover, as was the case when it was launched in 1946. LCW = Lounge Chair Wood 

LCM (1945)

In the plans for their chairs the Eames frequently came up with a number of variations by combining a seat shell with different base frames. Plywood Group, for example, was available from the outset with a chromed tubular steel base, making the design appear lighter and creating a certain tension in the contrast of two materials. The fur cover version was introduced as early as 1946 but only produced in small numbers. LCM = Lounge Chair Metal

Eames Elephant (1945)

Almost no other animal enjoys such popularity as the elephant. Admired for its majestic size and loved for its proverbial good-humour, it is part of our everyday experience as a child's cuddly toy, a storybook character and a majestic creature. Charles and Ray Eames also succumbed to their charms and in 1945 designed a toy elephant made of plywood. However, it never made it into mass production. The Eames elephant is now available for the first time in a plastic version for those it was originally intended for: children.

Whether used as a toy (also outdoors) or a decorative item in a children's room - this friendly-looking animal with its distinctive, over-sized ears is bound to bring cheer and enjoyment to many a child's and parent's heart.

Plywood Screen (1946)

The screen is at once a practical room-divider and an impressive sculptural object. Segments of moulded plywood are joined together using textile tape, ensuring mobility and creating the screen's gentle wavy lines. It can be placed in various positions and folded flat for storage purposes.

La Chaise (1948)

La Chaise was created for the 1948 "International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design." The name "La Chaise" was both a reference to sculptor Gaston Lachaise and a pun on his name. 

ESU (1949)

In 1949, Charles and Ray Eames developed a new system of free-standing multifunctional shelves which - similar to the Eames House that dates from the same time - were constructed strictly in keeping with the principles of industrial mass production: the Eames Storage Units (ESU).

Plastic Chairs (1950)

Plastic Armchairs were first presented as part of a New York Museum of Modern Art competition, “Low Cost Furniture Design”. Their organically shaped plastic seat shells were later combined with various different bases and manufactured in their millions. In their latest version made of polypropylene, the armchairs now offer even greater sitting comfort.

DAR = Dining Height Armchair R-Wire Base

DAW = Dining Height Armchair Wooden Base

DAX = Dining Height Armchair X-Base

DAL = Dining Height Armchair La Fonda Base

To complement the product line, Vitra is re-launching the fully-upholstered Plastic Armchair. The organically shaped upholstered shells are particularly comfortable and radiate a homely atmosphere. The Hopsak cover in 13 colours can be combined at will with the eight colours of the seat shell. Together with the base frames, this creates any number of individual possible combinations. The upholstery is fixed to the shell with black or white piping.

DSR = Dining Height Side Chair Rod Base

DSW = Dining Height Side Chair Wood

DSX = Dining Height Side Chair X-Base

RAR = Rocking Armchair Rod Base

LTR Table (1950)

Charles and Ray Eames designed the LTR as a small, variable side table and even had several different versions of them in the Eames House. Even today there are many of these tables standing there, individually or in groups, decorated with objects from the Eames collection or simply acting as side table next to armchairs and sofas. Collection Vitra Design Museum. LTR = Low Table Rod Base

ETR (1951)

This low coffee table with its elegant elliptical shape ressembles a surfboard and was quickly given the nickname "surfboard table". With its double chromed base, the table formally references a theme repeatedly varied on by the Eames, namely that of shaped steel rods welded together to make a fixed, static structure. ETR = Elliptical Table Rod Base

Wire Chair (1950)

The Eames Wire Chair is a variation on the organically shaped one-piece seat shell, boasting a light transparency and high technicality. The chairs are available without upholstery, or with a single seat cushion or a seat and backrest cushion. Because of its shape, this upholstery is sometimes referred to as a "bikini". 

DKR = Dining Height K-Wire Shell R-Wire Base

DKX = Dining Height K-Wire Shell X-Base

Eames Lounge Chair (1956)

The Lounge Chair is one of the most famous designs by Charles and Ray Eames. Created in 1956 it is now a classic in the history of modern furniture. Since 1956, the Eames Lounge Chair has combined ultimate comfort with both materials and workmanship of the highest quality. In the tradition of the English club chair, which inspired this classic design by Charles and Ray Eames, the original appearance of the Lounge Chair was defined by a dark wood veneer and black leather. 

However, the Eameses also created an early version with light-coloured leather upholstery. Developed in cooperation with the Eames Office, Vitra now introduces a new interpretation of the Lounge Chair. With white leather, polished aluminium and walnut veneer in a light finish, the new version harmonises perfectly with light-coloured interiors. 

The Lounge Chair is now also available in a version that allows maximum comfort for tall people.

Aluminum Group (1958)

The chairs in the Aluminium Group are the most famous creations by Charles and Ray Eames. Designed in 1958 they rate amongst the great achievements in the design history of the 20th century. The chair was originally designed for a private dwelling in Columbus (Indiana, USA) built by Eero Saarinen and Alexander Girard. Charles and Ray abandoned the normal shape of the seat pan and streched a web of material or leather tightly but elastically between two side components. This elastic form was better able to adapt te the contours of het body and to enhance seating comfort. The chair oscillated between strict function, structure, human anatomy and mechanical rationality.

An important characteristic of the Aluminium Chair is the intelligent combination of materials. It has a clear, transparent form and its construction is clearly visible. Aluminium sections lend the chair both stability and lightness. The material is fixed into the side sections, yet fitted loosely so that it follows the line of the body and is comfortable without requiring extensive upholstery. This material is not a cover but an integral part of the design.

The series consists of:

EA 105

EA 108

EA 115 

EA 117

EA 119

EA 124 & 125

EA 205

EA 208

EA 217

EA 219

EA 222 & 223

ES 104/105/108 (1960)

Lobby Chair's structural principle makes it similar in terms of comfort to Lounge Chair. It consists of three individual upholstered sections connected by means of metal side sections. The Lobby Chairs were originally designed for the lobby at the Rockefeller Center in New York, in subsequent years various versions were produced, but they all have one thing in common: outstanding sitting comfort.

ES 104

ES 105/108

Eames Stool (1960)

In 1960 the Eames office was commissioned by Time Inc. to fit out three lobbies in the Rockefeller Center in New York. As well as complete interior fixtures and fittings the project included the comfortable Lobby Chairs and a series of solid walnut stools. These turned stools which (as Ray Eames originally intended) can also be used as occasional tables, have three different design details in their centre sections.

Eames Segment Table (1964)

The Eames Collection - Aluminium Chair, Soft Pad Chair and Lobby Chair - also has matching tables. The bases, tables and chairs are well suited and compliment each other. The table programme is ideal for commercial, conference and domestic areas. There is a broad spectrum of individual tables in various sizes or custom made individual table units according to requirements.

Chaise (1968)

The idea for this design came from a long-standing friend of Charles und Ray Eames, film director Billy Wilder, who was looking for a recliner for relaxing in and taking short rests. Six cushions joined together with zips are attached to the aluminium frame, and there are two loose cushions for extra comfort.

CONCLUSION

A part of the continuous attraction and popularity of the Eames furniture is no doubt due to its synergy between construction, functionality and elegance. No other designer or design team has ever produced such a wide range of timeless classics, which continue to remain relevant today. Current trends such as sustainability and recyclability are incorporated in an implicit sense by the minimalist use of materials and the product lifespan. A piece of Eames furniture will last, in its essence, for a lifetime.