Charles Eames furniture, Charles Eames chairs, Charles Eames profile

Career

The Eames’s dedicated their lives to design and their work took various forms spanning over four decades including films, writings, toys, furniture and houses. Charles and Ray Eames’s distinct organic style married with technical ingenuity and a love of materials created some of the most influential design classics of the 20th century. Their innovation in the technical processes of moulded plywood led even the US Navy to commission 5,000 leg splints for soldiers after the war. This then helped fund Charles and Ray to open a design studio. Charles and Ray Eames continued to experiment with different materials including Fibre glass, plastic and aluminium although plywood remained a firm favourite.

Today, man and wife design team Charles and Ray Eames are most famous for their furniture designs. Furniture designs that have become iconic design classics that are still in production today. There are only two authorized manufactures for Eames furniture, Herman Miller for the US market and Vitra International for the European Market. Eames furniture has been widely copied since their release; some are a direct copy while others are ‘influenced’ by the design, usually annotated by the term ‘eames style’. When buying new Eames furniture or Eames vintage furniture buyers should be aware of the design differences of original furniture and eames style furniture so as to make an informed choice.

Funky furniture designs available to buy include:

Eames Hang it All

A multicoloured coat hook aimed at children as an encouragement to hang up their belongings. The Eames Hang It All was designed in 1953 using the same welding technology as their DSR wire chairs. Considered safer than hooks, brightly coloured wooden spheres on a white wire framework brighten up any space and amplify the Eames’s sense of fun.

Eames Plastic Armchair RAR

Charles and Ray’s moulded plastic chair with a rocker base, designed in 1948, was the first plastic chair to be mass produced. The organic shape of the chair shell has remained unchanged and true to the original design but the seat material has now been designed from recyclable polypropylene. The plastic arm chairs where showcased at the New York Museum of Modern Art as part of a Low Cost Furniture Design Competition. The Eames Plastic Chairs are available in eight funky colours with various chair bases including a wire base.

See also the DSR Eames Plastic Side Chair which is similar to the Plastic armchair but without the arms. The DSR is sometimes also referred to as the Eiffel Chair. The Eames Plastic chair ranges make ideal dinning room chairs and funky office / home study chairs. Choose a colour to compliment or contrast with your interior colour scheme or if you can’t decide which funky colour to choose from why not make a feature and have one of each.

Eames Chair codes

• RAR = Rocking Armchair Rod Base
• DAR = Dining Height Armchair R-Wire Base
• DAW = Dining Height Armchair Wooden Base
• DAX = Dining Height Armchair X-Base
• DAL = Dining Height Armchair La Fonda Base
• DSR = Dining Height Side Chair Rod Base
• DSW = Dining Height Side Chair Wood
• DSX = Dining Height Side Chair X-Base

Eames Elephant Seat

A lovely feature in any children’s bedroom the Eames elephant seat is sure to delight. Originally the Eames’s designed the elephant chair using plywood but Vitra have now produced a vibrant plastic chair in funky colours. The Elephant seat is not just for the kids room but the quality also ensures it can be used as an outdoor seat too. Certified with current CP and EC safety certificates for toys.

Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman

Out of all of Charles & Ray Eames’s Furniture, the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman designed in 1956 is one of the most famous and iconic pieces of 20th century furniture. Such is its importance to mid century modern furniture design that an original vintage version forms part of the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. The correctly titled Eames Lounge (670) and Ottoman (671), has never been out of production since it was designed for the Herman Miller Furniture Company. Although some small changes have been made to the furniture design, for instance original chairs were constructed using five layers of plywood while the modern chairs have seven layers. The vintage chairs also used a Brazilian Rosewood veneer which has since been listed on the endangered species list. The furniture was designed to combine the greatest of comfort with a high quality finish using high end materials. The chair incorporates the eames’s moulded plywood technology and shock mount detailing.