Stylish notes in decor :: The Eames Chair

Better Homes and Gardens

I have a thing for chairs. All sorts of them. Lately, I've been noticing Eames chairs all over the place, or so it seems - perfect pops of color punctuate all sorts of different styles in decor. I'm seeing them in rooms that are both formal and casual - kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms- every room, really. When I think of these chairs I think of my youth - the days I spent with my mother at work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. They weren't the most comfortable to sit on - from what I can recall. But even as a child I found them visually striking - bright pieces of molded plastic sitting atop of thin metal legs. I spent a fair amount of time, during my younger years, at the museum, both in the offices and wandering through the exhibitions. I recall these chairs mostly in the museum - I don't think anyone I knew had them in their homes. I have a fondness for these chairs that are a perfect combination of design, architecture and function. They just make me smile. My grandparents were dear friends with the Eames, and therefore it seems only fitting that I should write a post about the iconic Eames chair. There are several versions, rockers, leather, and lounge chairs but it is the simple plastic chair that has captured my memory and my heart.

via Vitra

Charles Eames was born 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri and studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. He opened an office with Charles M. Gray in 1930 and 5 years later, in 1935, he founded another architectural firm with Robert T. Walsh. After receiving a fellowship in 1938 from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, he moved to Michigan and assumed a teaching position in the design department the following year. In 1940, he and Eero Saarinen won first prize for their joint entry in the competition "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. During the same year, Eames became head of the department of industrial design at Cranbrook. He married Ray Kaiser in 1941.

Ray Eames, née Bernice Alexandra Kaiser, was born in Sacramento, California in 1912. She attended the May Friend Bennet School in Millbrook, New York, and continued her studies in painting under Hans Hofmann through 1937. During this year she exhibited her work in the first exhibition of the American Abstract Artists group at the Riverside Museum in New York. She matriculated at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1940.

via Vitra

The Eames were among the most influential designers of their era with major contributions to furniture, architecture, film and graphics. They were pioneers in the molding of plywood which was developed from their experiments and projects for the United States Navy during WW2. Their association with the museum dates back to the 1940s.