Charles Eames

Renowned Architect, Furniture Designer and Industrial Designer Charles Eames was born on this day in 1907 (died 1978).  He and his wife, Ray, were among America's most celebrated designers.  They believed that a house should be flexible enough to accommodate both work and play.

"Recognizing the need, is the primary condition for design."  This drove a lot of the Eameses work.  Early in their careers they saw the need for affordable, high-quality furniture for the average consumer.  For forty years the two experimented with ways to meet this challenge, designing flexibility into their compact storage units, and collapsible sofas for the home, and seating for virtually anywhere and everywhere.  Many chairs were designed for Herman Miller in four materials - molded plywood, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, bent and welded wire mesh and cast aluminum.

One of the most famous of these chairs was/is the DSR chair (Dining - height, Side -chair, Rod - base.)
Designed in 1948 this chair has a chrome base, often referred to as the "Eiffel" Chair.  It was one of a series, all with the same seat shell, first from fiberglass now made from polypropylene.

In 1999, Time Magazine declared the Eames Lounge Chair Wood (the LCW) the greatest design of the 20th century.  This chair was originally created in 1945, when Charles was designing plywood splints for the US Air Force.  After several experiments, the Eameses came up with this design using two separate pieces of plywood joined by plywood spine.

This Lounge Chair and Ottoman was designed in 1956 for the Herman Miller Company and is still considered to be one of the most comfortable seats ever made.

Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman
Available today at Herman Miller http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-seating/eames-lounge-chair-and-ottoman.html

The Eameses designed this Case Study House #8 (which was an experimental program in American residential Architecture sponsored by Arts & Architecture Magazine) which was one of the first modern pre-fabricated homes.

For more information on these influential designers of the 1950's check out this great Life Magazine
article.  http://life.time.com/culture/charles-and-ray-eames-photos-of-the-legendary-designers-in-1950/#1