You might not recognize them, but they are the creators of many of the current popular designs of furniture.
MEET THE EAMES
Charles Eames was born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri, studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and opened his first studio with Charles M. Gray in 1930. In 1935 he founded another architecture studio with Robert T. Walsh. After receiving a scholarship in 1938 from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, he moved to Michigan and began working as a professor in the design department the following year.
Ray Eames, born Bernice Alexandra Kaiser, was born in Sacramento, California in 1912. She studied at the May Friend Bennet School in Millbrook, New York, and continued her painting studies with Hans Hofmann until 1937. During that year she exhibited her work at the First exhibition of American abstract artists at the Riverside Museum in New York. In 1940 she enrolled at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and the following year married Charles Eames.
Their beggining
Charles & Ray had a rough start, no money, no office, really all they had was a small budget to try their luck and create mock models of their furniture. During the second World War they saw a chance to make profit and took it by creating Leg Splints for the wounded soldiers. These were created thankfully just in time for them to invest in the bending wood industry, which takes us to their iconic designs:
The Eames Lounge Chair
The Eames lounge chair debuted in 1956 on NBC in the Arlene Francis "Home" show. The original footage still exists and is available at YouTube in two parts. Part 1 and part 2. Charles Eames said he wanted the chair to have the "warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman's mitt."
This chair still is, of course, on sale and it's worth a fortune. Only for those who truly appreciate a good chair.
The DSR Chair
The initials stand for Dining (height) Side (chair) Rod (base). Designed in 1948, the DSR has a distinctive chrome base, giving it the nickname the “Eiffel” chair. It was one of a series, all with the same seat shell, made at first from fibreglass and now, less satisfyingly, from polypropylene.
La Chaise
This chair, designed for a competition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1948, was inspired by Floating Figure, a 1927 nude in bronze by the French-American sculptor Gaston Lachaise. Made of fibreglass on a base of steel and oak, it is in many ways an uncharacteristic Eames design, being so much more beautiful than it is comfortable; it also proved too expensive to produce until the 1990s when Vitra finally began its manufacture.
For those who have space enough for chairs that need never be used, it’s an exquisite statement piece.
So, after all of this, my question to you is:
Do you know who Charles & Ray Eames is?
And by that, I mean: have you seen any of these designs? What are your thoughts? Would you buy the iconic (and expensive) lounge chair?
Hopefully this was informative enough and maybe I can keep writing about my favorite designers in the future!
Thank you for reading.
abchaf