INTRODUCTION CHARLES AND RAY EAMES ARE AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT AMERICAN DESIGNERS OF THIS CENTURY.

THEY ARE BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR GROUNDBREAKING CONTRIBUTIONS TO ARCHITECTURE, FURNITURE DESIGN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING, AND THE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS. CHARLES EAMES, WAS BORN IN 1907 IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, STUDIED ARCHITECTURE AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS AND ESTABLISHED HIS FIRST ARCHITECTURAL OFFICE WITH CHARLES M. GRAY IN 1930, AND LATER WAS JOINED BY WALTER PAULEY. RAY EAMES WAS BORN IN SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA IN 1912. SHE ATTENDED THE MAY FRIEND BENNET SCHOOL IN MILLBROOK, NEW YORK, AND CONTINUED HER STUDIES IN PAINTING UNDER HANS HOFMANN THROUGH 1937. SHE MARRIED CHARLES EAMES IN 1940. AFTER THE WEDDING CHARLES AND RAY MOVED TO CALIFORNIA WHERE THEY WORK ON FURNITURE DESIGN WITH MOLDING PLYWOOD.

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY: FOR THEM, THE DESIGN PROCESS WOULD BE SUCCESSFUL ONLY BY IDENTIFYING THE OVERLAPPING NEEDS OF CLIENT, SOCIETY, AND DESIGNER AND DEVELOPING PRODUCTS THAT WOULD SERVE ALL THREE. THEIR UNIQUE SYNERGY LED TO A WHOLE NEW LOOK IN FURNITURE. LEAN AND MODERN. PLAYFUL AND FUNCTIONAL. SLEEK, SOPHISTICATED, AND BEAUTIFULLY SIMPLE. THAT WAS AND IS THE "EAMES LOOK.

A DESIGN CRITIC ONCE SAID THAT THIS EXTRAORDINARY COUPLE "JUST WANTED TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE." THAT THEY DID. THEY ALSO MADE IT A LOT MORE INTERESTING

DESIGNS RECOGNIZING THE NEED IS THE PRIMARY CONDITION FOR DESIGN CHARLES EAMES MOLDED PLYWOOD CHAIR : 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 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.

ORGANIC DESIGN CHAIR: DESIGNED BY EERO SAARINEN AND CHARLES EAMES. ONE OF THEIR FIRST PLACE PRIZE WINNING CHAIRS IN THE CATEGORY OF "SEATING" IN THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART'S ORGANIC DESIGN COMPETITION OF 1941.IT IS ALSO REFERRED AS RELAXING CHAIR. SIZE: 92.5 X 75 X 62.5; SEAT HEIGHT 40 CMS MATERIAL: MOLDED PLYWOOD, BIRCH WOOD, FOAM RUBBER, FABRIC

DINING CHAIR METAL: SEAT HEIGHT 18" WEIGHT 17 LBS. BLACK ANILINE DYE ON WOOD, CHROME FINISH LEGS, DOMES OF SILENCE GLIDES THIS IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF A 1952 DCM WITH ITS ORIGINAL BLACK ANILINE DYE. THE EAMES OFFICE CHOSE TO DYE THE WOOD, INSTEAD OF PAINTING IT, BECAUSE OF THEIR COMMITMENT TO HONESTY: WHAT'S WOOD SHOULD ALWAYS BE REVEALED AS WOOD. WITH DYE, THE GRAIN OF THE WOOD IS EXPRESSED THROUGH THE DARK FINISH.

LA CHAISE: TWO BONDED FIBERGLASS SHELLS, CHROMED ROD BASE WITH NATURAL OAK CRUCIFORM FOOT.THIS CHAIR WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED IN 1948 FOR THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART'S "INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR LOW COST FURNITURE DESIGN." THE PLAY ON WORDS OF THE NAME "LA CHAISE" REFERENCES BOTH THE FURNITURE FORM AND AN OBSERVATION BY CHARLES AND RAY THAT A FLOATING SCULPTURE BY GASTON LACHAISE COULD FIT IN THIS CHAIR

LOUNGE CHAIR AND OTTOMAN: THE EAMES LOUNGE CHAIR AND OTTOMAN ARE FURNISHINGS MADE OF MOLDED PLYWOOD AND LEATHER. IT WAS THE FIRST CHAIR THE EAMESES DESIGNED FOR A HIGHEND MARKET. EXAMPLES OF THESE FURNISHINGS ARE PART OF THE PERMANENT COLLECTION OF NEW YORK'S MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. THE EAMESES FOCUSED FIRST ON USABILITY IN THEIR DESIGNS. IN ADDITION TO THE STYLE, THE EAMES LOUNGE CHAIR IS VERY

COMFORTABLE A COMBINATION NOT ALWAYS FOUND IN HIGH DESIGN. THE CHAIR HAS BECOME ICONIC WITH MODERN STYLE DESIGN. THE CHAIR IS COMPOSED OF THREE CURVED PLYWOOD SHELLS. IN MODERN PRODUCTION THE SHELLS ARE MADE UP OF SEVEN THIN LAYERS OF WOOD VENEER GLUED TOGETHER AND SHAPED UNDER HEAT AND PRESSURE.

OTHER WORKS: EAMES WIRED CHAIR

ALUMINIUM GROUP CHAIR

TIME LIFE CHAIR:

TIME LIFE STOOL: