1948, 1996 – Present Charles and Ray designed this lounge chair for The Museum of Modern Art’s 1948 “International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design.” Its name references both its function as well as Gaston Lachaise’s Floating Figure sculpture, whose shape the Eameses thought would fit the chair perfectly. Comprised of two bonded fiberglass shells, a chromed base, and natural oak feet, the chair exhibits a captivating elegance and allows for a wide range of sitting and reclining positions. The Eames La Chaise was never sold during Charles and Ray’s lifetime, as it proved too costly to produce; however, their Armchair design, which they entered into the same competition, won a prize and was produced in fiberglass to great success. It wasn’t until 1996 that the long-time Eames partner, Vitra International, began manufacturing and distributing the La Chaise in response to public interest and demand. Today, the chair serves as a long-established icon of organic design.
It is available exclusively from Vitra.The Stool 60 Giveaway. Sign up for our emails and a chance to win this ingenious stackable stool.VitraLa ChaiseInformationProducts of the familyDesigner La ChaiseCharles & Ray Eames, 1948Charles and Ray Eames created the lounge chair La Chaise for a competition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The 'Floating Figure' sculpture by Gaston Lachaise, whose voluminous shape has obvious affinities with the Eameses' lounge chair, inspired its name. This expansive piece of furniture allows a wide range of sitting and reclining positions and has long established itself as an icon of organic design. 2)1)Shell: polyurethane, white lacquer finish.Base: chrome-plated tubular steel.Cruciform base: solid natural oak, protective natural lacquer finish.Design: 1948 Production: 1990 to the present Manufacturer: Vitra AG, Basel Size: 82.5 x 150 x 85; seat height 37 cms Material: fiberglass, iron rods, wood The priority given to arms production and the influx of numerous refugees at the end of World War II created a dire housing shortage in the United States;
at the same time, there was a very limited selection of low-priced, space-saving furniture available on the market. The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum Design Project, Inc., a non-commercial association of furniture producers and retailers, announced an international competition entitled “Low-Cost Furniture Design” on January 5, 1948, as a means of coping with the emergency. The organizers expected that the high-profile nature of this project would serve to inspire designers and producers throughout the world. The hope was that the development of a new generation of fresh, novel furniture designs to be distributed on a broad basis would help to improve the housing situation. The competition, which closed on October 31 of the same year, met with such an unexpectedly high international response that the judging of entries and the creation of prototypes of prizewinning models for the planned exhibition had to be delayed. A total of 3,000 drafts were submitted from thirty-one countries;
2,500 of these came from the United States, 500 from Europe. Charles and Ray Eames won second prize with their designs for molded, nonupholstered seats made of sheet steel or aluminum (see the “DAX” chair). While “La Chaise” was not one of the prize-winning designs, its elegant form made it one of the most notable competition entries, and it accordingly appeared in the catalogue and the exhibition, both realized in 1950. “La Chaise” consists of two very thin fiberglass shells that have been glued together and separated by a hard rubber disk; the resulting cavity is filled with styrene. Unlike Eero Saarinen’s “Womb Chair,” the Eameses’ plastic shell is not upholstered. The base is created by five metal rods in a partly diagonal arrangement that has been set into a construction of intersecting pieces of wood. With the “Organic Armchair,” a joint Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen project dating from 1940, the gap between the back and the seat was technically necessary, as it allowed the laminated veneer layers to be shaped three-dimensionally.
By contrast, this gap is a design element in “La Chaise,” as molding plastic rendered it redundant. The lightness of the structure was underscored visually by perforating the part with the largest volume, a stylistic device also used by sculptors such as Henry Moore. Formal analogies to sculptural elements in Salvador Dali’s surrealist pictures are discernible (e.g. Atavistic Ruins after the Rain, 1934; and Sleep, 1937). Charles and Ray Eames imagined that a flowing sculpture by the influential French-American sculptor Gaston Lachaise (1882 - 1935) would blend in well with their chair, hence the name. The furniture sculpture is manufactured by Vitra since 2006 in wet painted polyurethane. PDDesigner:Charles and Ray EamesRove ClassicsLa Chaise Reviews Financing available starting at $127.39/monthOrangeBaby BlueGreenBlackRedWhiteYellow Get FREE Swatchescustom Qty *Custom Order Financing available starting at $127.39/monthWhy Rove?Beautifully hand-crafted furniture at fair prices, from workshop floors to your door.$89 flat rate shipping on your entire order, to anywhere in the US and Canada.30 days hassle-free return, no restocking fees, plus a 5 Year Warranty.
*incl. VAT, incl. shipping (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands) Experience the Vitra La Chaise in our smow showroom in Düsseldorf. Shell: polyurethane, painted white Frame: tubular steel, chrome plated Base: solid wood, natural oak, natural wood lacquer To clean, wiping with a damp cloth and a mild detergent is recommended. ISO 90001: 2008 (Quality management systems) ISO 14001: 2004 (Environmental management systems) Click for more information (ca. 0,1 MB). The La Chaise from Charles and Ray Eames was created in context of a competition organised by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and is now one of the absolute Eames design classics. The inspitaration for the chair came from the sculpture "Floating Figure" by Gaston Lachaise: and in addition to its striking form the interplay of shapes and materials bequeaths the Eames La Chaise through the Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra its characteristic appearance.
The inner frame of steel tube is supported by a base made of solid oak and carries the curved seat shell made of polyurethane, and which thus creates a dynamic effect due to its flowing form. The designer duo Charles and Ray Eames are one of the most important design studios of the 20th century and were responsible for numerous designs that were both commercially and critically successful. Designs such as the La Chaise. More about 'La Chaise' in our blog Wasserschloss Klaffenbach Chemnitz: Eames by VitraBut for all Eames by Vitra is inclusive, presenting as it does the Eames plywood, plastic and aluminium chair collections, in addition to the La Chaise lounger, wooden stools and of course the Eames Lounge Chair... (smow)abseits:3 fish studios, Modern Furniture Linocuts Idling on the internet the other day we inadvertently clicked on an advertisement. For the link took us to 3 fish studios and these wonderful linocuts. Now we're not going to insult yous by pretending to be experts in graphic art, and so in the...