Charles and Ray Eames are among the most influential designers of the 20th century. The skills they developed during World War II helped the couple become pioneers of functional art.
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Designing the American dream: Charles and Ray Eames
The famous designers created icons of furniture design. The couple Ray and Charles Eames embodied the American experience by combining functionality with pleasure, as an exhibition in London shows.
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Liberating design
The Californian couple Ray and Charles Eames designed functional objects with the help of highly precise technology, while making sure they looked interesting aesthetically. This was the recipe for their success, which brought them worldwide fame. On this picture, the two designers are lying underneath the metal structures of their chairs.
Image: Eames Office LLC
The king of all armchairs
In 1956, Ray and Charles Eames created an icon of modern style design with the Lounge Chair and its accompanying Ottoman. The comfort of these furnishings is unparalleled, which can explain why they became so popular among well-off customers. Examples of this club chair are shown in New York's Museum of Modern Art.
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Filigree appearance
After plywood, fiberglass and other materials borrowed from industrial design, the Eames also experimented with wire. Shown here are their Wire Chairs. Also a photographer, Charles Eames took this picture of their design himself.
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Relaxing seats in the capital
Eames designs can be found in lecture halls, executive offices, meeting rooms and restaurants around the world, with chairs made of plastic, plywood, metal, or wire. Comfortable design classics created by the Eames also furnish this conference hall at the Berlin Chancellery.
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Tears for capitalism
Ray and Charles Eames established themselves as artists through exceptional multimedia installations. During the first Soviet-American cultural exchange event in 1959, their short film "Glimpses of the USA" was projected on seven huge screens in Moscow. The film showed the humanity of American families - and brought the Soviet audience to tears.
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American dream
They interpreted the American dream as an "easy way of living," portrayed by beautifully furnished homes with high ceilings and with a view on a luxuriant backyard. In their own house in Los Angeles, the famous architects integrated structures made of steel and glass.
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Living in a case study
This photo shows the garden of their house. Charles and Ray Eames lived and worked here from 1949, when the house was completed, until their death. It was conceived as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by the influential US magazine "Arts & Architecture." Today it is a listed house and is considered one of the 10 most important buildings in Los Angeles.
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At eye level
Charles Eames may have been physically taller than his wife, but on a creative level, they were at eye level. They established themselves as two of the most important designers of the 20th century through their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design and arts.
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A productive brand
On pictures, the two designers are shown as a happy couple caring for their work. They would also portray themselves using the furniture they designed in everyday life. The productive duo knew how to market their image as a brand. The London Barbican Art Gallery explores these aspects in its exhibition "The World of Charles and Ray Eames," shown until February 2016.
Image: Eames Office LLC
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Many Eames designs are classics. Their chairs, whether in molded fiberglass or bent plywood, can be found in countless executive offices, universities and restaurants worldwide, from the German Bundestag to a church in the Czech Republic or the Dubai airport.
The husband and wife, Charles and Ray Eames, were not only renowned for their pioneering work in architecture and furniture design, they also experimented in the fields of graphic and product design, painting, film, sculpture, photography and multimedia installations.
Starting on October 21, the Barbican Art Gallery in London showcases "The World of Charles and Ray Eames," a new exhibition exploring the creative universe of the influential designer duo. The exhibition also provides insight on the life of the husband Charles (1907 - 1978) and wife Ray (1912 - 1988) Eames.
The king of all chairs
"The Eames were masters of functional design," says Mateo Kries, art historian and director of the Vitra Design Museum, which houses the estate of the designer couple. "They designed mass-market objects which were practical and durable, while embellishing everyday life."
Among their most famous designs is the Eames Lounge Chair. Fans worship this luxury armchair as the king of all chairs. The Eames developed their know-how by working for the US war industry in the 1940s. They developed aircraft parts, leg splints and stretchers using bent plywood. They used the hitherto unknown technique of molding plywood with hot steam to design furniture.
They would later create other models using fiberglass, cast aluminum or wire. "The Eames always came up with groundbreaking inventions," says Kries.
In Germany, the Lounge Chair is produced by furniture manufacturer Vitra in Weil am Rhein. The estate of Ray and Charles Eames is managed by the Eames Office in Los Angeles.
'Eames' rhymes with 'dreams'
The couple knew how to market itself as a Hollywood brand. Charles briefly studied architecture before starting his own practice. Ray was an artist who had studied abstract expressionist painting. They met in 1940 at the Academy of Arts in Michigan and moved to Los Angeles. Old photographs show them happily trying out their own designs.
Who was the leader in the couple? "They both worked as equals," says the expert Kries. "None of them would hide in the background." There was nevertheless a clear division of tasks. "Ray was responsible for the artistic part and Charles for the technical aspects."
The couple not only created fabulous designs, but also a stimulating creative symbiosis.