The work of husband and wife design team Charles (1907-1978) and Ray (1912-1988) Eames established a new identity for American interior and graphic design, and conceived an arena for the development of multi-media and corporate design strategy. Perennial admirers of the details of everyday life, the Eames collected hundreds of photographic images and outfitted both their home and their office with an array of folk art and objects from around the world. Their house, made from prefabricated elements, and their office, remain today as examples of an astonishingly unique and fertile breeding ground for some of the classic mid-century modern designs.
In the early 1940's the Eames received the chance to experiment with new methods of bending plywood on the work they did for the Navy wartime effort. They produced plywood airplane parts and molded leg splints that were already so close to abstract art that it was no stretch for Ray to customize and exhibit them as such. They applied these techniques to their furniture design and began turning out series like the "Dining Chair Wood," known as the "DCW," the "Lounge Chair Wood" and "Lounge Chair Metal," known as "LCW" and "LCM" respectively. The Eames' approach to chair design was to work off of the idea of a shell as the seat, shaped to fit the body so that upholstery was unnecessary. In the late 1940's they came out with a series of reinforced molded fiberglass shells that could be attached to a number of different bases like the "Eiffel Tower," "Cat's Cradle," and one that would make it a rocking chair. Around 1950 they also released the Eames Storage Unit, a modular system of shelving that had brightly colored panels and was adorned with sliding and pull down doors in fiberglass and with their signature dimpled wood front. They also came out with a series of wire chairs that were mesh shells on wire rod bases. In 1956, a famous present for their friend Billy Wilder, a leather upholstered lounge chair and ottoman, was released as one of their most luxurious and expensive pieces. This chair is also featured prominently in many photographs of the Eames' house. The late fifties and sixties saw the release of their "Aluminum Group" of indoor/outdoor furniture, as well as the popular "Tandem Shell Seating" and "Tandem Sling Seating" designed for airports. The Eames worked with the company Herman Miller, a collaboration that included the furniture designs as well as advertising and showroom design.
A variety of toys, small objects, films and exhibitions are also part of the scope of the Eames Office. In the 1960's they began focusing in particular on corporate films and exhibits for Westinghouse, Polaroid and IBM. To make palatable IBM's rapid technological advancements, the Eames designed exhibits like "Mathematica" and the IBM Pavilion for the 1964 World's Fair in New York. "Mathematica," imbued with a sense of fun not often seen in science presentations, featured animated mathematical "peep shows." The IBM Pavilion had a multi-image exhibit called "Think," projected on dozens of screens in front of tiered risers filled with people and dubbed the "People Wall." The number of screens and the rate at which images flew by were innovations that set the scene for today's multi-media presentations.
Like many modernists, the Eames believed that affordable, mass produced, well-designed furniture and objects for the home were tools that could bring about an environment ripe for social change and betterment. Over several decades in which they were almost constantly working, the Eames took on the roles of decorators, entertainers, educators and artists. Their work, and expansive work philosophy, helped define an American style, summed up by Ray as, "what works is better than what looks good. The 'looks good' can change, but what works, works."
