Designer · USA · 1907–1978 · 1912–1988
Eames
Charles (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988) – American design duo, creators of Lounge Chair and plywood and plastic chairs for Herman Miller.
DAX Chair, Vitra, designed by Ray & Charles Eames, 2000s
About the designer
- Lifetime
- 1907–1978 · 1912–1988
- Country
- USA
- Manufacturers
- Vitra
Charles Eames was born in 1907 in St. Louis, studied architecture, and taught at Cranbrook from 1939 to 1941. Ray Eames (Ray-Bernice Kaiser) was born in Sacramento in 1912 and studied painting under Hans Hofmann. They met at Cranbrook, married in 1941 and moved to Los Angeles.
Experiments with moulded plywood, including for orthopaedic splints for the US Navy, led to the Molded Plywood series (LCW and DCW chairs), shown at MoMA in 1946. Collaboration with Herman Miller began in the same year. Later came chairs made of fibreglass-reinforced plastic (late 1940s and early 1950s), the Lounge Chair with an ottoman (1956) and the Aluminum Group series (1958).
Their studio, Eames Office in Venice, Los Angeles, operated from 1943 to 1988. In 1949 they built their own house, Case Study House #8. Earlier, Charles and Eero Saarinen won MoMA’s “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” competition. Charles died in 1978, and Ray exactly ten years later, in 1988.
More designs from this period can be found in the Mid-Century Modern collection.
Key designs
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LCW chair
Moulded plywood chair.
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Plastic chairs (Plastic Chair)
Shell made of fibreglass-reinforced plastic.
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Lounge Chair and ottoman (670/671)
Armchair made of moulded plywood and leather.
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Aluminum Group
Series of chairs with an aluminium frame.
