Eames_Issue_1 by Shanjida Kibria

ISSUE 1 | THE HISTORY OF THE EA MES MOL DED CH A IRS

DECEMBER 2016

eames

BY KAITLIN HANDLER

MAY 2014

fiberglass

RAR 1950 model of the Eames fiberglass arm chair.

THE HISTORY OF THE EAMES MOLDED CHAIRS

FIBERGLASS

The guidelines for the competition outlined that the intent was to “obtain furniture capable of being adapted to a variety of uses.”

On Thursday, October 23, 1947, a dinner was held at the Rainbow Room in Manhattan. Attended by various leaders of the United States furniture industry, and presided over by Nelson A. Rockefeller, President of the Museum of Modern Art, the event anounced the International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design. Various addresses were given that evening expressing concern over fact that, while world government and industries were focusing on the problem of affordable housing, minimal attention was being paid to the “design and production of good, inexpensive and attractive furniture.” The announcement made that evening highlighted the need for well-designed, moderately priced furnishings for the vast majority of people; furnishings that could be easily moved, stored and cared for, thus meeting the demand of modern living. The project, brought to the attention of the Museum of Modern art by the Museum Design Project, a non-profit organization which represented prominent retail merchants throughout the country, was meant to improve low-cost furniture through the cooperation of talent in the fields of design and research. The designers, pared up with one of six MoMA-selected design-research teams, were encouraged to utilize new materials, tools and production methods to focus their attention to the production of quality and inexpensive furnishings for the modern home.

The culmination of the exercise would result in an exhibition slated to be held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, as well as the franchise of the prize-winning furnishings for sale in those retail establishments associated with the Museum Design Project. January 5, 1948, the International Competition for the Design of Low-Cost Furniture officially opened for submission, with prizes and grants totaling $50,000. The closing of the competition was announced as midnight, October 31, 1948, with the winners announced by the jury two months after the closing date. Participants were directed to submit their entries anonymously to Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., Director of Industrial Design at the Museum of Modern Art. Submissions were to include plans not exceeding 2'' x 30'' sketch boards which indicated elevations, details of construction and cross sections of the proposed furniture. In addition, the competitors were instructed to send in a working model of each unit submitted, not less than ¼ full size. The guidelines for the competition outlined that the intent was to “obtain furniture capable of being adapted to a variety of uses.” Acceptable furnishing submissions included seating units such as upright and lounge chairs, sofas, benches or daybeds, or storage units for household or personal effects. There was no restriction on the total number of entries that a competitor could submit. First, second and third

THE HISTORY OF THE EAMES MOLDED CHAIRS

prizes would be handed out separately for seating and storage entries. Charles Eames was announced as participating in the project with the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Engineering. November 28, 1948: Judging of Low CostFurniture Competition by Jury made up of various personalities such as housewives, engineers, architects, and curators. After nearly 3,000 entries submitted, on January 18, 1949, Nelson A. Rockefeller presented awards to the winners of the International Low-Cost Furniture Competition, stating that the designs made “a real contribution to the improvement of standards of living.” Charles Eames along with the University of California, Los Angeles, was announced as the second prize winner for seating units, and received the cash prize of $2,500. Eames contribution, La Chaise received an honorable mention. The chair which was awarded the second prize was stamped steel, not fiberglass. The shell chair is believed to have been awarded a prize because of its thoroughly inventive base system. This system allowed for the shell to be utilized in a variety of different environments, be it in home of office life, seamlessly able to suit the needs of the consumer with the selection of the appropriate base type, and choice of arm or side chair. No other submission included such customizable variations. “Early” 1949, In keeping with the Eameses constant striving to improve their designs, Charles sought out a change in production method for the now prize winning design. The re-examining of materials met the concerns of Herman Miller as far as production costs were concerned, as the price of steel molding was quite costly (seventy to eighty thousand dollars in 1949). Additionally, the original steel molded chairs had possibility of rusting after time and, additionally, were cold to the touch. Because of this, temperature issue the chairs needed a neoprene coating added to the production process in order to ensure comfort for the

consumer. This, with the added step and cost of labor, added an unwanted rise in cost to the chair. Charles, with craft paper mock-up of the shell chair in tow, arrives at the workshop of John Wills, a noted fiberglass manufacturer and boat builder. In 1947 Wills had developed a manufacturing technique which allowed for fiberglass to cure at room temperature, eliminating the need for heat and pressure to be involved the process. Charles asked John to produce a fiberglass shell from his model. John Wills agreed to do so for a fee of $25.00. Two weeks later Charles arrived to view the prototypes that Wills had produced. Unable to pay for the two prototypes produced in the workshop, Charles paid for one, leaving the second perched on the cylindrical piece of corrugated metal from a disassembled agricultural feeder. This piece of design history has since been donated to the Henry Ford Museum as part of the Herman Miller Consortium. The shells which ultimately went into production are identical in shape and dimension to the original Wills prototype. The dimensionally correct casting would be made for a “Keller” milling machine to make a female mold of the prototype, which would then carve the opposite male die. September 1949: Zenith Plastics received a phone call from the Charles Eames with a request for representatives from the company to come in to the Eames Office and discuss a possible application for fiberglass. After showing up several hours late for the meeting with Sol Fingerhut, (a prior researcher in Owens Corning Fiberglass laboratories, who had previously developed fiberglass airplane wings for the US Air Force), and Irv Green (also from Owens Corning), Charles immediately launched into his discussion of the project, resulting in a four hour conversation. His concerns revolved around the possible issues that might arise with fiberglass production of his design, namely how to adhere the base to the shell, and how to treat the edge. Charles wanted to ensure a seamless

FIBERGLASS

DSR Herman Miller 1954 model of the fiberglass side chair. Seafoam green shell and wire rod base.

THE HISTORY OF THE EAMES MOLDED CHAIRS

MAX 1951 model of the Eames fiberglass arm chair.

RAR 1959 model of the Eames fiberglass arm chair.

design by incorporating a radius edge. These issues were resolved with the adherence of “buttons” to the shell with epoxy adhesives where the base met which allowed for it to be screwed in and secured, as well as treating the edge of the chair with rope. The rope-edge was ultimately abandoned because it added an additional step to the production cost and upped the price of the chair. Tackled first was the armchair. It was believed that if the armchair could be produced, the sidechair would soon follow, as its design was less complex to produce. The tooling equipment was purchased by Zenith Plastics at no overhead cost to Herman On November 4, 1949, an agreement was drafted outlining the partnership between the Zenith Plastic Company and the Herman Miller Furniture Company to produce the “Fiberglass Armchair Designed by Charles Eames which won a prize in the Museum Design Project of the Museum of Modern Art” which

stipulates an attempt to turn out acceptable shells within 60 days for display in Chicago on January 9, 1950. The first order was for 2000 shells. The contract was one page long – according to Charles it was because “if it won’t fit on one page, it’s not a friendly contract.” Herman Miller made the individuals involved in their projects feel like part of the company’s family. Sol Fingerhut and Irv Green relished in the fact that HMI and the Eames Office considered them valued contributors and attached much importance to the work that they did for the company. It was in the Zenith workshops that Charles shot his iconic film on the making of the fiberglass shell chair. Sol and Irv really appreciated what the Eameses were contributing to the world. Although they initially had hesitations about understanding what exactly “Good Design” meant, Charles absolutely took the time to explain the value of the process and explain to

FIBERGLASS

DSX-1 Herman Miller 1958 model with upholstery.

DSX-1 Herman Miller 1970 model with upholstery.

them the reasons behind the production of their design. According to Fingerhut: “A big part of the time was educating us, so we could understand what he was talking about, because initially we didn’t. We knew technically what we could do, from a technical standpoint, but we didn’t understand, we knew nothing about furniture business, we knew nothing about modern furniture, we knew nothing about, other that what he was saying, what his objectives were, and we didn’t understand that. We did, after five hours; believe me, we did. Because he was absolutely fantastic, in the way he would really kind of pick us up and carry us along with him in his discussions. This was his method.” A joint series of exhibitions between the The Museum of Modern Art, and the Merchandise Mart in Chicago entitled “Good Design,” meant to exhibit the best examples of modern design, opens January 16, 1950. The Eames fiberglass shell chair is on display

along with other models of winning designs from the International Low-Cost Furniture Competition. Winning designs from the International LowCost Furniture Competition on exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art; officially for sale at Sachs Quality Furniture, May to July 1950. The corresponding exhibition catalogue entitled Prize Designs for Modern Furniture outlines the winners of the competition and notes that the Eames chair is the first piece of furniture to be made of “fibre glass…never before used in furniture.” The chair is praised for its smooth surface, virtual indestructibility, and the flexibility of design proposed by the series of bases available, prominently illustrated in the corresponding photograph. May 1950, the winning designs officially on sale at Sachs Quality Furniture in New York City. The collaboration between the Competition and Sachs seems to have been a good fit, as the President of the company

THE HISTORY OF THE EAMES MOLDED CHAIRS

Richard C. Sachs, was himself interested in the virtues of providing for the community as a whole: “Good business and profit making no longer signify solely sound merchandizing, intelligent price policies, and efficient service and deliveries to customers. Today, good business must also connote an intelligent interest and concern for what happens in each community. The community is good business, because without the community, there would be no business…if the business recognizes its inherent function and it is living in a real world in modern society then to do good also means active participation in the life of the community…When business and industry in the United States awakens to the realization that the good and the profitable can spring from the same seed, they will have discovered a formula for producing profits and benefitting society unequalled since the Industrial Revolution” In ARTnews, Edgar Kauffman wrote extensively about the Eames win at the Low Cost Furniture Competition, and of the process of the designer: “…he is creating a design tradition…engaged in an infinitely adventurous and rigorous exploration of the world around him. At the same time he is an ardent experimenter, trying every possible way to use his finds singly and in combinations until they are transmuted from mere loot into elements of a new design. The end products are composed of the stuff of ordinary living and ye they are integrated and heightened far beyond that.”

In this article, Kauffman discusses the “magnificent new material” out of which the shell chairs are produced. It praises the chair for being tough, while still soft to the touch, all the while flowing naturally to create curvilinear shapes. Kauffman tells the reader that the plastic, embedded with glass fibers, takes colors easily. The colors were embedded into the fiberglass during the beginning stages of production. After the initial shape of the chair had been formed, following the application of the glass threads, the colored ink would be applied to the surface and then embedded deep into the threads through a pressurized process. The original colors composed of by the Eameses, mostly under the scrutiny of Ray, were Greige (a portmanteau which hinted at a grey/beige), Elephant Hide Grey and Parchment, which was notoriously translucent. Shortly after, still early in the production, Sea Foam Green was added, along with yellow and red. These colors were labored over lovingly. Charles and Ray would spend endless hours in the factory, tweaking and making slight alterations to the specifications of each color option, often creating several chairs in one day in order to ensure perfection. The color options developed were those which would most seamlessly blend with most the most number of interiors. According to Sol Fingerhut, Charles was never quite satisfied with the result of the coloring of the fiberglass. He had always envisioned the result as a solid, uniform, matte finish color.

It praises the chair for being tough, while still soft to the touch, all the while flowing naturally to create curvilinear shapes.

FIBERGLASS

RAR 1950 model of the Eames fiberglass arm chair. Bottom view.

BY WRITERS AT SMARTFURNITURE

MAY 2014

plywood

THE HISTORY OF THE EAMES MOLDED CHAIRS

In fact, TIME magazine referred to the Eames Molded Plywood Chair as the Design of the Century.

The design story of the Eames Molded Plywood Chairs is truly interesting. It’s the product of a long collaboration between Charles and Ray Eames, a relationship with Herman Miller and the United States Navy. It became the a harbinger of a new era in home and industrial design. The LCW, as it’s listed in catalogues, was one of the first really modern chairs produced in America, and it would go on to propel its designers, Charles and Ray Eames, into the stratosphere of American industrial designers. But even with all that, it’s possible that the average buyer has no idea what they’re called, who made them, or what they mean. You may not know their name, but the chances are you’ve seen or sat in an Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chair before. They occupy business offices and daycare centers, elementary school classrooms and the homes of friends. They seem to be everywhere, even though folks can rarely put a name to the familiar shape. The Eames Plywood Lounge Chair is a legendary design, even if the name of it isn’t nearly as famous, and the enormous amount of copying, sharing, and interest in them has assured their ubiquity. In fact, TIME magazine referred to the Eames Molded Plywood Chair as the Design of the Century. That’s high prize, and maybe this is even higher; it's all deserved. If great design is the collision of creativity, hard work and a bit of serendipity, then the Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chairs can proudly bear the title. The process used to create the chairs, the process of bending and molding plywood, was something Charles and Ray

worked on for years with varying degrees of success. While they had been able to perform the task to simply bending for years (and Charles had even won a design competition with the technique), it was still very difficult to make structurally sound chair. Chairs that were tough, that could be manufactured, and that could be bent in 3d while remaining strong and durable. They built a machine in their home, which they called the Kazam, which they used to try and build the chairs. Kazam was temperamental however, and caused a lot of problems in the early years of the design process. Stories abound of how they often blew out the power in their building, how they almost burned down their rooms trying to generate the heat, or how Charles climbed a neighborhood telephone pole to divert some needed electricity. The furious energy and work ethic of the Eames’ was already on full display that early in their careers. But, near the end of this long phase of experimentation, they began to perfect their technique. They realized the best ways to use glue, the best ways to retain structural integrity; the best way to make an Eames Plywood Lounge Chair, in short. One of the most important discoveries (hard truths might be the best word) they made concerned the totality of the chair. At first they had always dreamed of making a chair with one piece of wood; a chair that had a back and seat that were all of a piece, bent to their will. Eventually, they realized this wasn’t really feasible. Not only was the strength of the chair compromised, the cost of making such a piece would have been exorbitant

PLYWOOD

DCW Evans Production 1946 model.

DCM 1945 model with metal legs.

THE HISTORY OF THE EAMES MOLDED CHAIRS

PLYWOOD

and would have pushed the price of the chair way past acceptable marks. In the end, the form of the coming chair came into focus’ several pieces, elegantly curved, and fitted together with as little fanfare as possible to create a mostly unified look. Even with all that effort and a series of small successes in figuring out the manufacturing side of things, Charles and Ray didn’t have distribution. They worked on sets and films for MGM in the meantime. In the end, their work on the Eames Molded Plywood Chair may have never amounted to much but for the intervention of a large and powerful force; the United States Navy. When World War II broke out, there was a great need for new equipment; new lightweight equipment. Charles and Ray had heard horror stories of how soldiers and sailors with broken legs often worsened their injuries when they used metal splints, the common splint at the time. They needed a new kind of lightweight, giving, yet firm splint. And who was better equipped to handle that need than the duo who had devised a way to bend plywood to their will? Charles and Ray were immediately employed in the process of creating splints, glider shells, and other molded plywood creations for the Navy. The splints they made were actually modeled on Charles’ own leg. The initial order was only 5,000 splints, but by the end of their relationship with the Navy Charles and Ray had created over 150,000 splints for use by the armed forces. It was the spark that led to the wildfire popularity of the Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chair, and the long relationship they had with furniture giant Herman Miller. By building 150,000 splints, creating the manufacturing process themselves and developing the best strategies for creating strength and integrity in the wood, Charles and Ray took great strides toward total understanding of the process. They felt they were ready to make the first of the Eames Plywood Lounge Chairs. They had the right techniques for bending wood in three dimensions yet retaining all of it’s strength and

durability. The right techniques for attaching the pieces to one another in a unique, subtle, and somewhat invisible way. The right techniques for, perhaps most importantly, not blowing out the power and burning down their apartments. The first Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chairs were made by Evans, a California company with small distribution but a reputation for being able to work with wood. They were slow to catch on at first. That’s not really surprising when you take a look at the furniture, the contemporary furniture, that the Eames Plywood Lounge Chairs were dealing with. It was stately, never avant-garde or even a bit risky. It was traditional and solid. The LCW, as it was known, was none of those things. It was curvy, sensuous. It invited curiosity and made itself a focal point, even a conversation piece in almost any room. It didn’t owe anything to the furniture design of the past. But eventually, all that would go away, as the Eames Molded Plywood Chair caught the attention of collectors and homeowners, and became itself the gold standard of industrial design in chairs. As a result of the somewhat slow sales process, Evans knew they needed to do something to jump start sales. They hit upon an interesting idea; put the chair in New York and give it an exhibition at a big hotel. The whole circus briefly moved up to the Big Apple, and the chair finally became a major success. People couldn’t get enough of it, and it began to sell in large volumes (or at least large by prior standards!). One of the people who attended the exhibit and really loved the chair was George Nelson, one of the great minds and great designers behind Herman Miller. After seeing the work of Charles and Ray Eames, he knew he wanted the Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chair, and he knew he wanted them to be with Herman Miller. It wasn’t long before that happened, and one of the great partnerships between a company and a design team was born with resounding success. Nelson was one of the chief voices at Herman Miller, a man responsible for much of what he company

THE HISTORY OF THE EAMES MOLDED CHAIRS

would become; the greatest and most well-respected furniture company in America. Were he around today, it’s almost certain he would be willing (though it would be uneccessary) to stake the entirety of his business reputation on this one decision; bringing in Charles and Ray Eames. For the next forty years, Charles and ray would be the creative and productive workhorses of the Herman Miller stable of designers. Not for them the long fallow periods of inactivity punctuated by brief bursts of activity or a single produced project. They were always creating new things, building new dreams and forms, and, of course, constantly perfecting what they had already made. There is a quote from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, that says people should always be “going on to perfection.” Working tirelessly to get to where they know they should be. For Charles and Ray Eames, this described their relationship with their furniture. This first major production of the Eames Molded Plywood Chair was by no means the last iteration of the chair that would appear. Today, there are four versions of the chair available for purchase, each offering a unique slant and a unique look predicated on the basic idea of the molded plywood chair. In 1946, when the chair debuted as a Herman Miller product, it began to explode. Everyone wanted a piece of the Eames chair; schools wanted it for the playful, brightly colored and low to the ground aesthetic it had. Children loved it, so it found a place in playrooms and bedrooms. Tasteful buyers and parents

wanted them for their living rooms and dens, and office thought they were perfect for that modern lobby they were trying to create. In 1946, a chair like this was at the very front rank of modernity, one of the first foot soldiers in the Herman Miller effort to make modern furniture, creative, daring and beautiful furniture, a high priority for the living rooms, offices and public spaces of America. Of course the Eames Molded Plywood Chair fit right into that. George Nelson’s decision to recruit Charles and Ray into the Herman Miller family of designers paid off in more ways than one. Financially the chairs were a huge boon to the Herman Miller sales wing. But perhaps more importantly, they (Charles and Ray) sealed Herman Miller’s place in the history books and critical appreciations of design in the 20th century. There was nobody who seriously competed with them, and for all of their products to issue from the offices of Herman Miller was a coup indeed. As the century wore on, and new fashions and modes of working came into light, the chairs underwent minor changes as well. Many of the chairs stopped using only molded plywood for support and design. For instance, several of the new versions of the chair are constructed using metal legs rather than wooden one, and there have also been small changes (or more accurately, variations) to the seat pan. Different angles, different fluctuations and different recline. The curving, gentle slopes of the chair have been molded to fit new fashions. Of course, the old version is still intact

This first major production of the Eames Molded Plywood Chair was by no means the last iteration of the chair that would appear.

PLYWOOD

LCM Vitra 1946 model.

LCW Herman Miller current model.

and available for purchase from Smart Furniture and Herman Miller. But every new decade saw the Eames’ continue to try and push their design into a new era, a new “consciousness.” In time, they would even depart totally from molded plywood and attempt to make chair from fiberglass, a new material they helped to pioneer. These somewhat egg-shaped shells were highly successful as well, and their stackable, lightweight nature made them big hits for auditoriums and schools. Also, and this was major for Charles and Ray, they were able to be shaped in one large piece; a piece that could form both the back and the seat of the chair. The dream of the single, three dimensional, structurally sound shell was realized (albeit in a different material). The height of the Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Chair was also subject to experimentation. The classic version is often referred to as the “low chair.” In fact, often people are confused and think that the traditional LCW designation refers to “low chair wood” instead

of “lounge chair wood.” The newer versions have legs that can extend the chair to new heights, and keep people more comfortable, and less awkward and tables and other, taller structures that are sometimes juxtaposed with the Eames Plywood Lounge Chair. No matter what the new material, or the new design, the original Eames Plywood Lounge Chair always kept it’s unique sense of style, it’s aesthetic, and it’s integrity. And, of course, it’s still available, and still hugely popular with collectors and regular buyers alike. It’s rare that a modern chair, a new chair, that was considered beautiful in 1946 is still considered fresh and lovely today, but this is one of those pieces; it passes the test. Still vibrant, still impressive, and still unique, this is a chair for the ages. Or, according to TIME, the design of the century.

issue 1