Eames lounge chair

Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman

Eames Lounge ChairFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman arefurnishings made of molded plywood and leather,designed by Charles and Ray Eames for theHerman Miller furniture company. They areofficially titled Eames Lounge (670) andOttoman (671) and were released in 1956 afteryears of development by designers. It was thefirst chair that the Eameses designed for ahigh-end market. Examples of these furnishingsare part of the permanent collection of NewYork's Museum of Modern Art.

Contents1 Design2 History3 Curated examples4 See also5 References

5.1 Citations5.2 Further reading

6 External links

DesignCharles and Ray Eames aimed to develop furniture that could be mass-produced and affordable, with theexception of the Eames Lounge Chair. This luxury item was inspired by the traditional English Club Chair.The Eames Lounge Chair has become iconic with Modern style design, although when it was first made, RayEames remarked in a letter to Charles that the chair looked "comfortable and un-designy". Charles's visionwas for a chair with "the warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman's mitt." The chair is composed ofthree curved plywood shells: the headrest, the backrest and the seat. In early production, beginning in 1956and running through the very early 1990s, the shells were made up of five thin layers of plywood which werecovered by a veneer of Brazilian rosewood veneer. The use of Brazilian rosewood was discontinued in theearly 1990s, and current production since then consists of seven layers of plywood covered by finishingveneers of cherry, walnut, Palisander rosewood (a sustainably grown wood with similar grain patterns to theoriginal Brazilian versions), and other finishes.

The layers are glued together and shaped under heat and pressure. These earlier models are differentiatedfrom newer models by the sets of rubber spacers between the aluminum spines and the wood panels firstused in the earliest production models (and then hard plastic washers used in later versions) early first seriesversions of the chair used three screws to secure the armrests, second series models used two. In the earliermodels, the zipper around the cushions may have been brown or black as well, and in newer models thezippers are black. The shells and the seat cushions are essentially the same shape, and composed of twocurved forms interlocking to form a solid mass. The chair back and headrest are identical in proportion, asare the seat and the ottoman. Early ottomans had removable rubber slide on feet with metal glides.

Eames Lounge Chair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eames_Lounge_Chair

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The Eameses constantly made use of new materials. The pair's first plywood chair—the Eames LoungeChair Wood (LCW)—made use of a heavy rubber washer glued to the backrest of the chair and screwed tothe lumbar support. These washers, which have come to be called 'shock mounts', allow the backrest to flexslightly. This technology was brought back in the 670 Lounge chair. The backrest and headrest are screwedtogether by a pair of aluminum supports. This unit is suspended on the seat via two connection points in thearmrests. The armrests are screwed to shock mounts which are connected only via glue to the interior of thebackrest shell, allowing the backrest and headrest to flex when the chair is in use. This is part of the chair'sunusual design, as well as its weakest link. The shock mounts have been known to tear free causingcatastrophic collapse and damage.

Other creative uses of materials include the seat cushions - which eschew standard stapled or nailedupholstery. Instead, the cushions are sewn with a zipper around the outer edge that connects them to a stiffplastic backing. The backing affixes to the plywood shells with a series of hidden clips and rings. This design,along with the hidden shock mounts in the armrest allow the outside veneer of the chair to be unmarred byscrews or bolts. The chair has a low seat which is permanently fixed at a recline. The seat of the chairswivels on a cast aluminum base, with glides that are threaded so that the chair may remain level.

History

The Eames Lounge Chair first appeared[1] on the Arlene Francis Home show broadcast on the NBCtelevision network in the USA in 1956. Immediately following the debut, Herman Miller launched anadvertising campaign that highlighted the versatility of the chair. Print ads depicted the 670 in a Victorianparlor, occupied by a grandmother shelling peas on the front porch of an American Gothic style house, andin the middle of a sunny field of hay. One notable advertisement was produced by the Eameses for HermanMiller warning consumers against imitations and knockoffs. It has been frequently featured in Frasier as apiece of furniture in the title character's apartment. In the final episode of the series, Martin Crane remarksthat he finds it comfortable and hints that he may not have needed his recliner after all. It has also beenfrequently featured in House as a piece of furniture in the title character's office.

Since its introduction, the chair has been in continuous production by Herman Miller in America. Later, Vitra(in cooperation with the German furniture company Fritz Becker KG) began producing the chair for theEuropean market. It was licenced for a short period to Hille in the mid 1960s, but the licence was withdrawndue to quality issues (thinner plywood was used for the shells & the leather was less hardy) also some slightchanges to the original design - notably the cast base which was altered to be thinner. Immediately followingits release, other furniture companies began to copy the chair's design. Some made direct copies, others weremerely 'influenced' by the design. Most notably the former Plycraft Company issued dozens of chairs thatwere direct copies of or in-the-style-of the Eames 670. Later Chinese and European companies beganmaking direct copies. However, Herman Miller and Vitra remain the only two companies to produce thesechairs with the Eames name attached.

In 2006, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the chair, Herman Miller released models using asustainable Palisander rosewood veneer.

Curated examplesA 1956 rosewood Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman are in the permanent collection of the Museumof Modern Art in New York City. The set was a gift of the Herman Miller Company, donated in 1960.A rosewood Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman are on display at the Henry Ford Museum inDearborn, Michigan.

See also


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Eames Lounge Chair Wood

References

Citations

Eames, Charles and Ray (1956). "Eames Lounge Chair" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIEb4HcgZ4s).Home show. YouTube. Retrieved 22 June 2015.

1.

Further reading

Martin Eidelberg, Thomas Hine, Pat Kirkham: The Eames Lounge Chair: An Icon of Modern Design.Merrell Holberton 2006, ISBN 978-1-85894-302-2.

External linksHerman Miller product page (http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Eames-Lounge-Chair-and-Ottoman)Eames Office - vintage (https://web.archive.org/web/20120421045845/http://www.eamesoffice.com/vintage/vintage_intro.php?id=6)California Academy of Sciences - Science in Action - Episode 379 - The Chair - guest Charles Eames(March 14, 1960) (https://archive.org/details/csfa_00006)

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Categories: Chairs Works by Charles and Ray Eames

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