Charles Eames and Ray Eames were the embodiment of the inventiveness, energy and optimism at the heart of mid-century modern American design, and have been recognized as the most influential designers of the 20th century. As furniture designers, filmmakers, artists, textile and graphic designers and even toy and puzzle makers, the Eameses were a visionary and effective force for the notion that design should be an agent of positive change. They are the happy, ever-curious, ever-adventurous faces of modernism. Charles studied architecture and industrial design. Ray (née Beatrice Alexandra Kaiser) was an artist, who studied under the abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit (where Charles also met his frequent collaborator Eero Saarinen and the artist and designer Harry Bertoia) and married the next year. His technical skills and her artistic flair were wonderfully complementary. They moved to Los Angeles in 1941, where Charles worked on set design for MGM.
In the evenings at their apartment, they experimented with molded plywood using a handmade heat-and-pressurization device they called the “Kazam!” machine. The next year, they won a contract from the U.S. Navy for lightweight plywood leg splints for wounded servicemen — they are coveted collectibles today; more so those that Ray used to make sculptures. The Navy contract allowed Charles to open a professional studio, and the attention-grabbing plywood furniture the firm produced prompted George Nelson, the director of design of the furniture-maker Herman Miller Inc., to enlist Charles and (by association, if not by contract) Ray in 1946. Some of the first Eames items to emerge from Herman Miller are now classics: the “LCW,” or Lounge Chair Wood, and the “DCM,” or Dining Chair Metal, supported by tubular steel. The Eameses eagerly embraced new technology and materials, and one of their peculiar talents was to imbue their supremely modern design with references to folk traditions.
Their “Wire Chair” group of the 1950s, for example, was inspired by basket weaving techniques. The populist notion of “good design for all” drove their “Molded Fiberglass” chair series that same decade, and also produced the organic-form, ever-delightful “La Chaise.” In 1956 the “Lounge Chair” and ottoman appeared — the supremely comfortable plywood-base-and-leather-upholstery creation that will likely live in homes as long as there are people with good taste and sense. Charles Eames once said, “The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” For very good collectors and thoughtful interior designers, a piece of design by the Eameses, the closer produced to original conception the better, is almost de rigueur — for its beauty and comfort, and not least as a tribute to the creative legacy and enduring influence of Charles and Ray Eames. The Eames Molded Plastic & Fiberglass Armchair is a fiberglass chair, designed by Charles and Ray Eames, that appeared on the market in 1950.
[1] The chair was intentionally designed for the ‘International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design.’ This competition, sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art, was motivated by the urgent need in the post-war period for low-cost housing and furnishing designs adaptable to small housing units. The chair was offered in a variety of colors and bases, such as the “Eiffel Tower” metal base, a wooden base, and a rocker base. The plastic fiberglass armchair is one of the most famous designs of Charles and Ray Eames, and is still popular today. “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.[3] Of all their designs, the Plastic Chairs come closest to achieving this ideal. They found that the use of plastic in furniture design has several advantages: it has pleasant tactile qualities, it has malleability and static strength combined with a high-degree of flexibility, and it makes feasible, via mass-production, their goal of low-cost furniture.
The early production of the chair The material of the chair, Zenaloy, which is polyester reinforced with fiberglass, was first developed by the US Army during World War II.[4] Using this material, Ray and Charles Eames designed a prototype chair for the 1948 ‘International Competition of Low-Cost Furniture Design’ held by the Museum of Modern Art. The chairs were made using the latest machines, such as hydraulic press molds from shipbuilding, by manufacturer Zenith Plastics.[4] Mass-producing the molded fiberglass chairs involved a tremendous amount of design and tooling effort, a long period of product development, and considerable investment. The basic technology involved shaping the fiberglass material with metal molds using a hydraulic press. The armchair was the first one-piece plastic chair whose surface was left uncovered and not upholstered.[1] In 1950, Zenith began mass-producing the fiberglass shell armchairs for Herman Miller, who offered them for sale that year.
The fiberglass armchair was included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in 1950. The Vitra company entered the furniture market in 1957 with the licensed production of furniture from the Herman Miller Collection for the European market. In 1984, the partnership that had been formed with Herman Miller was terminated by mutual consent. Subsequently, Vitra obtained the European and Middle Eastern rights to designs by Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson. At first, the chair was available in three colors: greige, elephant-hide gray, and parchment. The palette of colors was later expanded. After that, a choice of several possible bases was offered. The early “H” metal base (the SAX standard model and the LAX lounge lower model), “X” metal base (the DAX dining model), a lower model with metal rod base (the LAR model), a wooden base (the DSW model), a steel-wire base (the DSR model, also known as the “Eiffel-Tower base”), a cast aluminium base with castors (the PACC model), and a wood-rocker base (the RAR model).
All of the bases were attached to the seat using hard rubber disks to allow flexibility. Despite the fact that Herman Miller ceased production of the rocker in 1968 (until they reintroduced it 30 years later), pregnant employees continued to receive these chairs as a company gift until 1984, solidifying the rocker as a token of high-end nursery decor.[7] The plastic shell became available in an upholstered (fabric or vinyl) version a year after the introduction of the chair. After the success of the arm chair, the side chair (without arms) was introduced (in the DSW, DSX, and DSR models). Over the years, the plastic chair has undergone some modifications: the curve of the back has become more inclined and upholstery is now glued to the plastic shell. The Eames plastic armchair immediately became an iconic design and eventually the chair was used in schools, airports, restaurants, and offices around the world. From 1954, the chairs were used as stadium seating with metal rods put together in rows, the Tandem Shell Seating.