The head screenplay writer at Twentieth Century Fox, Philip Dunne, asked Charles and Ray to redesign the interior of his office in the “Old Writers Building” in 1952. Dunne wanted the L-shaped interior of his otherwise English cottage-inspired office building to include a modern-style conference area and small seating arrangement. Charles and Ray constructed a…
The ’Musical Tower’ is a 15 ft vertical xylophone with repositionable notes allowing for the arrangement of various musical compositions. Music plays when a marble ball is dropped into a slot at the top. It is said that new Eames Office employees would have to arrange the notes in the musical tower on their first…
Max De Pree, the son of Herman Miller’s founder D.J. De Pree, commissioned the Eameses to design a home for himself, his wife Esther, and their two young children in Zeeland, Michigan. Charles and Ray, in an effort to begin the design process, informally asked the De Pree family questions about their daily way of…
There is no denying the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, also known as the 670 and 671, is a luxury item. Still, the design concept has all of the Eames hallmarks, most notably, standardization of parts and humble use of plywood, although with an ultra-luxurious premium face veneer of fine wood. The lounge chair is…
A short, stop-motion film that records the piece-by-piece assembly of the chair, including testing by several individuals, and concludes with it being disassembled and packed for shipment. Music by Elmer Bernstein. 2 minutes, 15 seconds.
Shot with a camera developed by the Eames Office, and outfitted with a special system of mirrors that was designed to shoot kaleidoscopic images, this film opens with a single view of a desk in the Eames Office reception area. The camera then pans horizontally across the reception office and the scene dissolves into a…
At the suggestion of Billy Wilder and another friend, Frank Perls, the Eames visited the Conditorei Kreutzmann (a pastry and coffee shop) in Munich during a cultural exchange trip they made to Germany. They were so impressed with the perfection of the cafe’s operation and the elegance of its pastries that they persuaded the proprietor…
A record of a lived-in house, designed by Charles Eames and his wife Ray, for themselves. Situated in Southern California on a hillside meadow overlooking the sea, the combination house and studio is a delightful structure of steel and glass, designed of standard materials, as a dwelling place and place of work. From facade to…
The Eameses designed the original House of Cards in 1952, exemplifying the design duo’s appreciation for the uncommon beauty of common things. The deck consists of fifty-four playing-sized cards, each card with six slots, two on either side and one at both ends, so they may be locked together to create three-dimensional structures. The Picture…
The Eameses designed the original House of Cards in 1952, exemplifying the design duo’s appreciation for the uncommon beauty of common things. The deck consists of fifty-four playing-sized cards, each card with six slots, two on either side and one at both ends, so they may be locked together to create three-dimensional structures. The first…
The Eameses designed the original House of Cards in 1952, exemplifying the design duo’s appreciation for the uncommon beauty of common things. The Original Picture Deck consists of fifty-four playing-sized cards, each card with six slots, two on either side and one at both ends, so they may be locked together to create three-dimensional structures….
This colorful device for hanging things, hats, coats, scarfs, or even toys, is the epitome of the Eames approach to design. It couldn’t be simpler in terms of the use of materials: wood and rubber-coated steel wire, but it’s very thoughtful in terms of functionality, with round wood balls that serve as hooks. Eames Hang-It-All…
