Charles Eames (1907–78) and
Ray Eames (1912–88) gave shape to America's twentieth century. Their lives and work represented the nation's defining movements: the West Coast's coming-of-age, the economy's shift from making goods to producing information, and the global expansion of American culture. The Eames embraced the era's visionary concept of modern design as an agent of social change, elevating it to a national agenda. Their evolution from furniture designers to cultural ambassadors demonstrated their boundless talents and the overlap of their interests with those of their country. In a rare era of shared objectives, the Eames partnered with the federal government and the country's top businesses to lead the charge to modernize postwar America.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri,
Charles Eames grew up in America's industrial heartland. As a young man he worked for engineers and manufacturers, anticipating his lifelong interest in mechanics and the complex working of things.
Ray Kaiser, born in Sacramento, California, demonstrated her fascination with the abstract qualities of ordinary objects early on. She spent her formative years in the orbit of New York's modern art movements and participated in the first wave of American-born abstract artists.
Dazzlingly bright-eyed, Ray looked like a cross between Dorothy in the enchanted Land of Oz and an artistic version of the energetic and engaging Jo March in Little Women. Charles, who looked film star Henry Fonda, was handsome, charismatic and thought by many to be a “genius”.
Their studiously simple lifestyle revolved around their “laboratory” workshop and office in Los Angeles. No one worked harder than this pair; and no one took greater pleasure in their work. Together, they (and those who worked in the office) created some of the most iconic furniture of the twentieth century, which, together with their architecture, interiors, films, multi-media shows and exhibitions helped shape how people thought about objects and buildings.
Charles met Ray at Cranbrook and when they married they moved to Los Angeles to focus on the mass- manufacture of low-cost molded plywood furniture; getting what Charles called “ the most of the best to the most for the least”. Ray’s stunning graphics and textiles of the early and mid-1940s indicate a strong independent design talent but she chose (as did many women of her generation) to work jointly on a project that she did not originate. By 1951, they had seen through to commercially viable mass production low-cost furniture in plastic and metal as well as plywood; the first people to so do.
By the late 1950s, the Eames focused more on communications than products, creating films multi-media presentations and exhibitions which shaped the ways people thought about objects, ideas, history, and science. The “overload” of objects in their home was paralleled in the “information overload“ of their media work. They believed that viewers or visitors were capable of negotiating their own ways through complex and diverse material – a commonplace concept today but considered revolutionary at the time – and used all manner of effects, from puppet shows to timelines, inter-active “games”, and animation, to enhance the learning process.
After Charles’s death in 1978, Ray began to sort their enormous archive with a view transferring it to the Library of Congress. She died ten years to the day after Charles.
© 2018. All images are copyrighted © by Charles and Ray Eames or assignee. The use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained.
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| Charles and Ray Eames |
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| 1928, Charles Eames etchings |
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| 1933, Charles Eames Mexican Watercolors |
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| 1933, Ray Eames in NYC |
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| 1942, Ray Eames in California |
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| 1942, Ray Eames in California |
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| (Furniture design) 1940-42-2004, Organic Chair [Vitra] |
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| (Furniture design) 1942, Molded Plywood Chair Prototypes |
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| (Furniture design) 1942, Molded Plywood Chair Prototypes |
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| (Furniture design) 1943, Pilot seat |
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| 1943, Plywood Sculpture |
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| 1943, Plywood Sculpture |
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| (Furniture design) 1946, DCW chair |
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| (Furniture design) 1946, DCW chair |
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| (Furniture design) 1946, LCM chair |
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| (Furniture design) 1948-96, La Chaise |
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| (Furniture design) 1950, Fiberglass Armchairs |
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| (Furniture design) 1951-67-96, Wire Chair |
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| (Furniture design) 1952, Eames Elliptical Table |
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| (Furniture design) 1954, Eames Compact Sofa |
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| (Furniture design) 1954-93-2006, Plastic Side Chair |
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| (Furniture design) 1958, Eames Aluminum Group chair/ottoman |
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| (Furniture design) 1958, Eames Aluminum Group chairs |
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| (Furniture design) 1961, Side Chair (“La Fonda”) |
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| (Furniture design) 1961, Armchair (“La Fonda”) |
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| (Furniture design) 1961, Eames Plastic Armchair |
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| (Furniture design) 1962, Eames Tandem Sling Seating |
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| (Furniture design) 1962, Eames Tandem Sling Seating |
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| (Furniture design) 1964, Three Seater 3473 Sofa |
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| (Furniture design) 1966, Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman |
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| (Furniture design) 1968, Eames Chaise |
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| (Furniture design) 1969, Eames Soft Pad Group |
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| (Furniture design) 1984, Eames Sofa |
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| (Furniture design) Molded Chairs |
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| (Furniture design) Vitra Aluminum chair |
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| (Product design) 1945, Plywood elephant |
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| (Product design) Herman Miller Hang-It-All |
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| (Environmental design) 1950, Herman Miller showroom interiors |
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| (Environmental design) 1951, The Kwikset House |
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| (Environmental design) 1959, Birthday House Hallmark Cards |
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| (Environmental design) 1961, The Time-Life Building Lobby |
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| (Environmental design) 1964, IBM Pavilion at the NY World’s Fair |
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| (Environmental design) 1972, Fibonacci- Growth and Form exhibit |
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| (Environmental design) 1973, Isaac Newton- Physics for a Moving Earth exhibit |
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| (Environmental design) 1973, Isaac Newton- Physics for a Moving Earth exhibit |
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| (Toy design) 1950, Toy Masks |
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| (Toy design) 1950, Toy Mask |
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| (Toy design) 1950, Toy Mask |
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| (Graphic design) 1952, Herman Miller graphics |
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| (Graphic design) 1957, A.I.A. Gold Medal Award |
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| (Graphic design) 1962, Herman Miller Stock Certificate |
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2014, The Eames: In The Spotlight retrospective exhibit
at Art Center College of Design |
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2014, The Eames: In The Spotlight retrospective exhibit
at Art Center College of Design |
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2014, The Eames: In The Spotlight retrospective exhibit
at Art Center College of Design |
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2014, The Eames: In The Spotlight retrospective exhibit
at Art Center College of Design |
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