The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman have their origin in Charles and Ray’s investigations into molding plywood and a desire to improve upon a familiar fixture in many living rooms: the lounge chair. Today, these pieces not only live in museums, but continue to offer comfort and style to interiors everywhere. Own a True Icon of Modern DesignWhen the set was introduced in 1956, there was nothing like it, and there is still nothing to equal it. The Eameses’ modern take on a 19th century club chair has not only endured for more than 50 years, it has become one of the most significant furniture designs of the 20th century—instantly recognizable and enduringly fresh. Expansive OptionsThe Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman has become so recognizable that its configuration is a registered trademark. You can also choose the standard, high-performance lacquered plywood shell in all four wood veneers. To provide additional choices for complementing a range of interiors, the chair and ottoman are offered in all-black and all-white versions.
The all-black version features an ebony veneer shell and black MCL Leather. For the all-white version, a white ash shell complements pearl MCL Leather. The metal components of the white ash chair are finished in white to highlight the polished aluminum accents on the base. Luxurious Comfort and SupportThe comfort and support built into the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman help explain their enduring popularity. Charles and Ray EamesThe fertile, curious minds of Charles and Ray Eames invented the modern American furniture vocabulary. Along with other visionaries like George Nelson, the Eameses brought new materials, new processes, and a new attitude to interior design. And they often did it by playing with form and structure in an inventive, childlike way. Charles encouraged experimentation among his staff, saying that he wanted "to have people working on useless projects. These have the germ of new concepts."The introduction, in 1946, of their Molded Plywood Chairs—with their light weight, compound curves, and streamlined visual profile—changed furniture design and manufacturing forever.
And the Eames team put what they learned from that project into the design of their Lounge Chair and Ottoman, perhaps the icon of modern American design. Whether taking their inspiration from toys, surfboards, or a new process they developed for making plywood splints during World War II, Charles and Ray Eames never stopped innovating and making the world a more beautiful, comfortable, and interesting place. Office/StudioThe Eames OfficeSanta Monica, CaliforniaCharles and Ray Eames A chair that looked like a potato chip. Another that resembled a "well-used first baseman's mitt." A folding screen that rippled . . . With a grand sense of adventure, Charles and Ray Eames turned their curiosity and boundless enthusiasm into creations that established them as a truly great husband-and-wife design team. Their unique synergy led to a whole new look in furniture. Sleek, sophisticated, and beautifully simple. That was and is the "Eames look." That look and their relationship with Herman Miller started with molded plywood chairs in the late 1940s and includes the world-renowned Eames lounge chair, now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Charles and Ray achieved their monumental success by approaching each project the same way: Does it interest and intrigue us? Can we make it better? Will we have "serious fun" doing it? They loved their work, which was a combination of art and science, design and architecture, process and product, style and function. "The details are not details," said Charles. "They make the product." A problem-solver who encouraged experimentation among his staff, Charles once said his dream was "to have people working on useless projects. These have the germ of new concepts." Their own concepts evolved over time, not overnight. As Charles noted about the development of the Molded Plywood Chairs, "Yes, it was a flash of inspiration," he said, "a kind of 30-year flash." With these two, one thing always seemed to lead to another. Their revolutionary work in molded plywood led to their breakthrough work in molded fiberglass seating. A magazine contest led to their highly innovative "Case Study" house.
Their love of photography led to film making, including a huge seven-screen presentation at the Moscow World's Fair in 1959, in a dome designed by their friend and colleague, Buckminster Fuller. Graphic design led to showroom design, toy collecting to toy inventing. And a wooden plank contraption, rigged up by their friend, director Billy Wilder for taking naps, led to their acclaimed chaise design. A design critic once said that this extraordinary couple "just wanted to make the world a better place." They also made it a lot more interesting. Organic Furniture Competition, Museum of Modern Art, 1940 Emmy Award, (Graphics), "The Fabulous Fifties," 1960 Kaufmann International Design Award, 1961 25 Year American Institute of Architects Award, 1977 Eliot Norton Chair of Poetry, Harvard, 1971 Queen's Gold Medal for Architecture, 1979 Named "Most Influential Designer of the 20th Century," WORLDESIGN '85, Industrial Designers Society of America, 1985
The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention, Traveling Exhibition, Library of Congress, 1999 Eero AarnioBrian AlexanderMichael AnastassiadesDouglas BallEdward Barber and Jay OsgerbyBassamFellowsYves BéharWard BennettJeffrey BernettAyse BirselRonan & Erwan BouroullecTodd BracherBruce BurdickJerome CarusoCarol CatalanoDon ChadwickEric ChanNitzan CohenDesign Group ItaliaNicholas DodziukCharles and Ray EamesEOOSforpeopleNaoto FukasawaStefano GiovannoniAlexander GirardMark GoetzDan GrabowskiKonstantin GrcicThomas HeatherwickJaime HayonSam Hecht and Kim ColinMarkus Jehs and Jürgen LaubBrian KaneJack KelleyStudio Technico MagisMaharam Design StudioDavid MellorJasper MorrisonGeorge NelsonTom NewhouseIsamu NoguchiObservatoryDavid Allan PessoRobert PropstLeon RansmeierJoey RuiterPhilippe StarckStudio 7.5Bill StumpfVincent Van DuysenMarcel WandersJeff WeberIsay WeinfeldGianfranco Zaccai The Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman are furnishings made of molded plywood and leather, designed by Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller furniture company.
They are officially titled Eames Lounge (670) and Ottoman (671) and were released in 1956 after years of development by designers. It was the first chair that the Eameses designed for a high-end market. Examples of these furnishings are part of the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. Charles and Ray Eames aimed to develop furniture that could be mass-produced and affordable, with the exception of the Eames Lounge Chair. This luxury item was inspired by the traditional English Club Chair. The Eames Lounge Chair is an icon of Modern style design, although when it was first made, Ray Eames remarked in a letter to Charles that the chair looked "comfortable and un-designy". Charles's vision was for a chair with "the warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman's mitt." The chair is composed of three curved plywood shells: the headrest, the backrest and the seat. In early production, beginning in 1956 and running through the very early 1990s, the shells were made up of five thin layers of plywood which were covered by a veneer of Brazilian rosewood.
The use of Brazilian rosewood was discontinued in the early 1990s, and current production since then consists of seven layers of plywood covered by finishing veneers of cherry, walnut, Palisander rosewood (a sustainably grown wood with similar grain patterns to the original Brazilian versions), and other finishes. The layers are glued together and shaped under heat and pressure. Earlier models are differentiated from newer models by the sets of rubber spacers between the aluminum spines and the wood panels first used in the earliest production models (and then hard plastic washers used in later versions) early first series versions of the chair used three screws to secure the armrests, second series models used two, the domes of silence (glides/feet) on the chair base had thinner screws originally (1950's era) attaching them to the aluminium base, these are not compatible with later chairs. In the earlier models, the zipper around the cushions may have been brown or black as well, and in newer models the zippers are black.
The shells and the seat cushions are essentially the same shape, and composed of two curved forms interlocking to form a solid mass. The chair back and headrest are identical in proportion, as are the seat and the ottoman. Early ottomans had removable rubber slide on feet with metal glides. Early labels are oblong foil type. The Eameses constantly made use of new materials. The pair's first plywood chair—the Eames Lounge Chair Wood (LCW)—made use of a heavy rubber washer glued to the backrest of the chair and screwed to the lumbar support. These washers, which have come to be called 'shock mounts', allow the backrest to flex slightly. This technology was brought back in the 670 Lounge chair. The backrest and headrest are screwed together by a pair of aluminum supports. This unit is suspended on the seat via two connection points in the armrests. The armrests are screwed to shock mounts which are connected only via glue to the interior of the backrest shell, allowing the backrest and headrest to flex when the chair is in use.
This is part of the chair's unusual design, as well as its weakest link. The shock mounts have been known to tear free causing catastrophic collapse and damage. Other creative uses of materials include the seat cushions - which eschew standard stapled or nailed upholstery. Instead, the cushions are sewn with a zipper around the outer edge that connects them to a stiff plastic backing. The backing affixes to the plywood shells with a series of hidden clips and rings. This design, along with the hidden shock mounts in the armrest allow the outside veneer of the chair to be unmarred by screws or bolts. The chair has a low seat which is permanently fixed at a recline. The seat of the chair swivels on a cast aluminum base, with glides that are threaded so that the chair may remain level. The Eames Lounge Chair first appeared[1] on the Arlene Francis Home show broadcast on the NBC television network in the USA in 1956. Immediately following the debut, Herman Miller launched an advertising campaign that highlighted the versatility of the chair.
Print ads depicted the 670 in a Victorian parlor, occupied by a grandmother shelling peas on the front porch of an American Gothic style house, and in the middle of a sunny field of hay. One notable advertisement was produced by the Eameses for Herman Miller warning consumers against imitations and knockoffs[]. It has been frequently featured in Frasier as a piece of furniture in the title character's apartment. In the final episode of the series, Martin Crane remarks that he finds it comfortable and hints that he may not have needed his recliner after all. A knockoff of the Eames Lounge Chair has been frequently featured in the show House, in the protagonist's office. Malory Archer's office chair in Archer is also an animation of the Eames Lounge Chair. Since its introduction, the chair has been in continuous production by Herman Miller in America. Later, Vitra (in cooperation with the German furniture company Fritz Becker KG) began producing the chair for the European market. It was licensed in the UK for 10 years to Hille International LTD from 1957.