VitraEames Plastic ChairInformationProducts of the familyDesigner Eames Plastic ChairsCharles & Ray Eames, 1950'Getting the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least': with these words, Charles and Ray Eames described one of their main goals as furniture designers. None of their other designs come as close to achieving this ideal as the Plastic Chairs. For years, the designer couple explored the fundamental idea of a one-piece seat shell moulded to fit the contours of the human body. After experiments with plywood and sheet aluminium in the 1940s produce unsatisfactory results, their search for alternative materials led them to glass-fibre reinforced polyester resin.The Eameses recognised and fully exploited the advantages of the material: mouldability, rigidity, pleasant tactile qualities, suitability for industrial manufacturing methods. With this material, which was previously unknown in the furniture industry, they successfully developed the shell designs for serial production.
After their debut at the 'Low-Cost Furniture Design' competition organised by the Museum of Modern Art in 1948, the Plastic Armchair (A-shell) and Plastic Side Chair (S-shell) were launched on the market in 1950 as the very first mass-produced plastic chairs in the history of furniture.The Eames Plastic Chairs also introduced a new furniture typology that has since become widespread: the multifunctional chair whose shell can be joined with a variety of different bases to serve diverse purposes. As early as 1950, Charles and Ray Eames presented a series of bases that enabled various sitting positions. An especially striking model is the so-called Eiffel Tower base – an intricate and graceful design made of steel wire that inimitably combines light, elegant forms with structural strength.Today Vitra manufactures the comfortable seat shells of the Plastic Side Chairs and Plastic Armchairs in polypropylene, offering a multitude of bases, shell colours and upholstery options. This allows customers to specify countless different combinations and to use the chairs in the widest range of settings – from dining rooms, living rooms and home offices to office workspaces and conference rooms;
from restaurants and cafés to break rooms and cafeterias; from waiting areas and auditoriums to terraces and gardens.In 2016 Vitra has added approximately 20 mm to the height of the Eames Plastic Chairs DSX, DAX, DSR, DAR, DSW and DAW, while also revising the seat geometry. These modifications, which are aesthetically almost imperceptible, increase the comfort of this classic chair design, especially in combination with contemporary tables.Seat shell (14)Other coloursHopsak (28)Other colours2)4)2)1)1)2)2)Seat shell: dyed-through polypropylene. All models (except RAR) are available with a seat cushion (screwed to the seat shell) or full upholstery. The fully upholstered version has moulded polyurethane foam padding covered in Hopsak fabric, attached to the shell with a welted edge. Covers are available in all Hopsak fabric colours. Different shell and upholstery colours and various bases provide a multitude of possible combinations.Options: the Eames Plastic Chair is available as a visitor chair, dining chair, rocking chair, swivel chair or in stacking versions and with ganging brackets for row seating.
Beam-mounted shells are suited for use in waiting areas. Eames Molded Plastic Armchair Rocker Base Click on image to zoom Designers: Charles and Ray EamesThe Molded Plastic Armchair Rocker Base is exemplary of the Eameses’ iterative process and their desire to make “the best for the most for the least.” With each new finish and configuration, Charles and Ray pushed the boundaries of what the shell chair can be, whether it’s in an office lounge or the corner of your living room. Made of 100 percent recyclable polypropylene, this plastic rocking chair’s subtle matte texture offers a soft tactility and notable durability, and it is available in an array of colors and numerous upholstery options. Configure Your Eames Molded Plastic Armchair Rocker Base Add to Wish List Charles and Ray Eames realized their first successful, single-shell form in 1950 with the Molded Fiberglass Chairs. However, when the environmental risks associated with fiberglass production became more widely understood, the decision was made to switch to a safer plastic material.
In 2004, Herman Miller reintroduced the Molded Plastic Armchair Rocker Base in polypropylene. Fulfilling the goals of every modern designer. The Molded Plastic Armchair Rocker Base is available in an array of colors as well as a variety of upholstery options including many from the Alexander Girard archive. You've been added to our mailing list. Please enter a valid email address (for other countries click here) Versions which are in stock and immediately available (click here) *incl. VAT, incl. shipping (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands) 1: Height 67 cm 2: Width 62,5 cm 3: Depth 69 cm 4: Seat height 33 cm Seat shell: Dyed-through polypropylene Frame: Round steel, chrome plated or powder coated Rockers: Maple, stained and varnished For cleaning the plastic elements always use a soft, damp cloth and a mild detergent. Permanent collection, MoMA, New York The Vitra Eames RAR Plastic Rocking chair is:
contains up to 14% recycled materialVitra conform to: ISO 90001: 2008 (Quality management systems) ISO 14001: 2004 (Environmental management systems) Seat Pad for Eames Armchairs by Parkhaus Berlin or Seat Dots by Vitra Please click on picture for detailed information (ca. 1,0 MB). Is the Vitra Eames RAR also available with cushions? For the Vitra RAR we cannot offer a seat cushion, as with a seat cushion safety while rocking cannot be guaranteed. Alternatively, you can use the seat cushions from Parkhaus How much weight can the RAR support? The chairs are tested to 110 kg. If the user is heavier, the wear and tear on the components increases. However not only the user's weight plays an important role in the wear on the chair, also the sitting habits of the user are important. If, for example, you regularly drop heavily into the chair, or use the armrests to help you stand up, you experience high, if localised, stress which may be greater than the burden of a "static" very heavy user.
Welche Holzfarbe haben die Kufen? The rockers are stained and varnished maple. It is possible that "Special Editions"offer alternative rockers. Should any be available these will be displayed in our shop. The DesignIf one had to select the greatest furniture design classics of all time the Eames rocker and the other plastic chairs would have to be included. Designed in 1950 by Charles and Ray Eames, the RAR and the other Eames chairs were the first collection of plastic chairs to be produced in series. The one-piece design with its anatomically formed seat shell builds the ideal bridge between exclusive aesthetics and homely charm: Design meets comfort. The Eames RAR rocking chair series features the different coloured Eames A-shells fastened to wire frame set on maple rockers. The Eames side chairs, armchairs and rocking chair RAR were created in 1948 in context of the "International Competition for Low Cost Furniture" from the MoMA New York. All the chairs in the collection are all-purpose chairs characterized by extremely high variability - they are, for example, available in a mix of bases, seat shells and colours - and are compatible for a wide range of situations ans uses, both domestic and commercial.
Thanks to their dogged and successful experiments with new materials Ray and Charles Eames created the first ever serially produced plastic chairs. Fibreglass reinforced polyester resin allowed completely new flexible forms, and in the specific case of the Eames RAR the so-called A-shell. In addition to its ease of use, the material has a pleasant feel and was also affordable for the masses. Originally all Eames Chairs were made in the USA by Herman Miller,the production in Europe and Asia only beginning once Vitra acquired the licenses in the late 1950s. In 1993 ecological considerations regarding fibreglass meant that Vitra ceased production of the Eames RAR and other plastic chairs; only resuming in the 1999 when the recyclable, yet just as malleable, material material polypropylene became available. At the same time Herman Miller also stated using polypropylene. Charles and Ray Eames were one of the more unique teams in the history of the furniture industry. In a joint career spanning over 30 years the pair created a small universe full of beautiful things.
Aside from the famous Eames furniture designs they also created a unique collection of films, photographs, graphic works, and accessories. Charles and Ray Eames met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art know where Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen were working on their preparations for the "Organic Furniture Competition" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the young art student Ray Kaiser was appointed to assist them. A year later Charles and Ray married. Thus beginning not only a strong personal relationship, but also a very productive professional partnership as designers, architects, graphic designers. In short, a trained architect and painter who studied together and created an oeuvre that revolutionised so much. Including Eames RAR and other plastic armchairs. Charles Eames died at 71 on August 21, 1978 in Los Angeles, Ray Eames exactly 10 years to the day later, aged 76 years. Historical ContextThe 1950s in the United States were, as in Europe, years of upheaval.
Following the war years nations, communities and individuals sought to reorient themselves, sought new values, new principles, new rules for the new realities of the new world. In concrete terms that principle meant building new relationships to culture, consumption, production and living. The Eames furniture beautifully reflects the spirit of the young, ambitious America of the 1950s. Charles and Ray Eames developed for their plastic armchairs a new manufacturing process, a process which enabled the chairs to be mass produced and a price ??affordable for a majority of Americans . With the combination possibilities of the different bases Charles and Ray Eames created an all-purpose chair family which responded to the new requirements for flexibility and multi-functionality in furniture design. With the RAR rocking chair and the other members of their plastic chair family Charles and Ray Eames had a decisive influence on the development of modernism throughout the second half of the 20th century.
On a taxi ride through New York Willi and Erika Fehlbaum spotted a chair in a shop window. It was an Eames chair. And the beginning of a beautiful friendship. That was in 1950 and after some negotiations with the manufacturer of Eames furniture in the United States, Herman Miller, the Fehlbaum's young company Vitra acquired in 1959 licenses for the production of Eames furniture in Europe and Asia. As the only licensed manufacturer of the original Eames designs Vitra is today Ambassador of the ideas of Charles and Ray Eames. The Eames archive being entrusted to Vitra and not the Eames family or Herman Miller. But not just the Eames' furniture is important to and for Vitra, the influence of the pair remains alive in many, subtle, ways. When, today a decisions is required, the standard Vitra approach is to ask: "What would Charles and Ray do?". In addition to the legacy of the Eames Vitra manage a vast collection of new and established design classics by the likes of, for example, George Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, Verner Panton, Antonio Citterio and Hella Jongerius.