DesignerDeco

Charles and Ray Eames

Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by DesignerDeco in Modern Furniture Designers

The golden couple of American modern design, Charles and Ray Eames were great luminaries that not only revolutionized the design world, but also influenced great minds in the likes of Arne Jacobsen.

The personal lives of Charles and Ray Eames

Charles Eames was born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied architecture in Washington University for two years before he was expelled for his purported support of then controversial American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1930, Eames started his own architectural firm with Charles Gray and Walter Pauley. In his stint as a teacher in Cranbrook Academy of Art, he gained recognition when his molded plywood chairs won first prize in a competition. Charles Eames later married Ray Kaiser who also helped in making the prize-winning chairs.

Ray Kaiser Eames, on the other hand, was as skillful and talented as her husband. She studied design and abstract painting under Hans Hofmann and eventually went to Cranbrook Academy of Art to study. Here, she met Charles Eames and helped out in a joint entry for the New York’ Museum of Modern Art’s “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” competition. A year after they worked together, Ray married Charles.

The design ethics of Charles and Ray Eames

The Eames were very brave designers who experimented with unique methods and unconventional materials. They believed that the process was a vital part in coming up with their fantastic designs. At times, the process took several years before they arrived at their desired output.

Popular works of Charles and Ray Eames

Molded plywood

The Eames were successful proponents of the molded plywood technology that gave their furniture that characteristic curve that comfortably cradles essential parts of the body. The molded plywood that they have perfected was eventually used in most of the furniture that they conceptualized.

Army stretchers and splints

During the war, the Navy commissioned the Eames to construct splints and stretchers out of their signature molded plywood. The Eames couple successfully helped out in the war effort by providing those life-saving medical equipment.

Eames House

The Eames couple were also capable of designing and building impressive infrastructures. In 1949, the Eames started construction of a steel and glass house that was as impressive and artistic as its owners. The Eames House served as the home and office of Charles and Ray Eames until their deaths. The Eames House has been declared a National Heritage Site.

Eames Tandem Sling Seating

Airports have been made cozy and bearable with Charles Eames Tandem Sling Seating that could seat up to ten persons per row. Even up to now, some airports still use the Eames Tandem Sling Seating for their passengers.

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