Charles and Ray Eames - Lounge Chair & Ottoman
MARRIED COUPLE Charles and Ray Eames had just gotten to know director Billy Wilder when he asked them to design a house for him. The house was never built, but the friendship lasted.
And it was not unusual for the Eameses to pay a visit to Wilder at the film studio. Between shoots, the director would find a couple of sawhorses and a few plywood boards, and build a temporary seat for napping. There and then, the idea of the perfect armchair complete with footstool was born.
The couple would typically make furniture that could be mass-produced at reasonable prices. At least that had been the case with previous chairs. But this time, nothing was spared. The aim was to create a modern and contemporary version of the classic British club armchair, a warm and welcoming chair that “looked like a well-used baseball glove”, as Charles Eames
himself put it.
THE EAMES LOUNGE Chair and Ottoman, as it is officially named, was shown to the public
Library ladder with mahogany finish for the first time in 1956, after several years’ work on the prototype.
The secret behind the chair’s immediate success, and the fact that it is still feels relevant and contemporary – over 60 years after it was introduced – is not just the beautiful design. The sculptural quality is also why the chair is regarded as one of the most important pieces of furniture of the 20th century, and ergonomics and function are equally important.
"What works is better than what looks good. The good looks can change, but what works, works" - Charles Eames
Today, the famous armchair is part of the permanent collections at both the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. No bad journey for what started out as plywood against
sawhorses in the back yard of a film studio. Today, even well-used chairs can sell at auction for around 3-6,000 Euro.
Text: Oskar Hammarkrantz