Charles Eames and Ray Eames were the embodiment of the inventiveness, energy and optimism at the heart of mid-century modern American design, and have been recognized as the most influential designers of the 20th century. The Eameses were lovers of folk craft who had a genius for making highly original chairs, tables, case pieces and other furniture using traditional materials and forms.
As furniture designers, filmmakers, artists, textile and graphic designers and even toy and puzzle makers, the Eameses were a visionary and effective force for the notion that design should be an agent of positive change. They are the happy, ever-curious, ever-adventurous faces of modernism.
Charles Eames (1907–78) studied architecture and industrial design. Ray Eames (née Beatrice Alexandra Kaiser, 1912–88) was an artist, who studied under the Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit (the legendary institution where Charles also met his frequent collaborator Eero Saarinen and the artist and designer Harry Bertoia) and married the next year.
His technical skills and her artistic flair were wonderfully complementary. They moved to Los Angeles in 1941, where Charles worked on set design for MGM. In the evenings at their apartment, they experimented with molded plywood using a handmade heat-and-pressurization device they called the “Kazam!” machine. The next year, they won a contract from the U.S. Navy for lightweight plywood leg splints for wounded servicemen — vintage Eames splints are coveted collectibles today; more so those that Ray used to make sculptures.
The Navy contract allowed Charles to open a professional studio, and the attention-grabbing plywood furniture the firm produced prompted George Nelson, the director of design of the furniture-maker Herman Miller Inc., to enlist Charles and (by association, if not by contract) Ray in 1946. Some of the first Eames items to emerge from Herman Miller are now classics: the Eames chair, the LCW, or Lounge Chair Wood, and the DCM, or Dining Chair Metal, supported by tubular steel.
The Eameses eagerly embraced new technology and materials, and one of their peculiar talents was to imbue their supremely modern design with references to folk traditions.
Their Wire chair group of the 1950s, for example, was inspired by basket weaving techniques. The populist notion of “good design for all” drove their molded fiberglass chair series that same decade, and also produced the organic-form, ever-delightful La Chaise. In 1956 the Eames lounge chair and ottoman appeared — the supremely comfortable plywood-base-and-leather-upholstery creation that will likely live in homes as long as there are people with good taste and sense.
Charles Eames once said, “The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” For very good collectors and thoughtful interior designers, a piece of design by the Eameses, the closer produced to original conception the better, is almost de rigueur — for its beauty and comfort, and not least as a tribute to the creative legacy and enduring influence of Charles and Ray Eames.
The original Eames furniture for sale on 1stDibs includes chairs, tables, case pieces and other items.
1946 Pair of Eames Evans DCW Dining Chairs in Calico Ash Wood
By Evans Products Company, Charles and Ray Eames
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is a pair of DCW Dining Chairs in Calico Ash, originally designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1946. These are ultra-rare, early examples that were produced by the Evans Plywood ...
Steel
1950s Pair of Herman Miller Eames LCW Lounge Chairs in Calico Ash
By Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is a pair of LCW Lounge Chairs, originally designed by Ray and Charles Eames in 1948. They are early Herman Miller examples and feature the 5-2-4 screw pattern, dating back to t...
Steel
1947 Pair of Evans Eames LCW Chairs in Birch with Ebonized Legs
By Evans Products Company, Charles and Ray Eames
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is a pair of LCW Lounge Chairs, initially designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1947. The listed price includes the pair of chairs as shown. They are early examples, dating to ci...
Steel
C. 1955 Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller DCM Chair in Calico Ash
By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is an early DCM Chair, originally designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1946. The piece was produced by Herman Miller and retains its tag under the seat....
Steel
1954 Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller DCM Chair in Calico Ash
By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is an Eames DCM Side Chair, originally designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1946. This particular example dates to approximately 1954 and has its foil patent pending sticker int...
Steel
C. 1953 Herman Miller Eames LCW Lounge Chair in Calico Ash
By Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This is an LCW Lounge Chair, originally designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1948. It is an early Herman Miller example featuring the 5-2-4 screw pattern, dating it to ca. 1953. The ...
Steel
Pair of Early Eames DCW Side Chairs by Herman Miller
By Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller
Located in Highland, IN
This handsome pair of 1950s Eames DCW (Dining Chair Wood base) have an ash veneer. They are second generation production, made by Herman Miller post Evans production with an embossed...
Wood
Vintage Eames DCWs Dining Chair Wood for Herman Miller
By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Pair of DCW (Dining Chair Wood) in Ash wood, designed by Ray and Charles Eames for Herman Miller. This iconic mid-century design features molded wood with gracefully curving planes. ...
Ash
1940s Pair of Early Charles Eames for Herman Miller LCW Lounge Chairs in Oak
By Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller, Evans Products Company
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Designed in the late 1940s by Charles Eames, this chair has cemented itself in Mid-Century Design like very few other pieces. Early models like this are difficult to come by and are very rarely in such good condition, as many have been worked on in some way or another before their value shot up. These chairs feature a super sleek design of steam-bent plywood, an incredibly innovative technique pioneered by Herman Miller in collaboration with the Eames's and manufacturing firm Evans. The large seat and back are mounted to a molded plywood base with rubber shock mounts, another Eames staple. This allows them to have excellent contrast through spacing, which gives them an excellent stance, almost insect-like. Both are early chairs with the correct screw configurations beneath. This pair features all original hardware, finish, and shock mounts. Very few blemishes, and those that exist are minimal, barely visible even in our high-res pictures. At this time, we have two early pairs, as seen in in photos. We also have another single early model, and two extremely rare pre-production chairs with the accompanying molded plywood coffee table...
Plywood
First Generation Charles & Ray Eames for Herman Miller DCM Dining Chairs in Ash
By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames
Located in Dallas, TX
A rare and exceptional set of six early transitional DCM (Dining Chair Metal) chairs designed by Charles & Ray Eames for Herman Miller / Evans Products. These examples, crafted in as...
Steel, Zinc
Set of Two Eames DCW Lounge Chairs in Walnut for Herman Miller, USA, 1950s
By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames
Located in Berlin, DE
Set of two Eames DCWlounge chairs in walnut for Herman Miller, USA. The DCW chair, also known as the dining chair wood, is a modernist furniture design created by the husband-and-wif...
Walnut
1940s Pair of Early Charles Eames for Herman Miller Lcw Lounge Chairs in Birch
By Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller, Evans Products Company
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Designed in the late 1940s by Charles Eames, this chair has cemented itself in Mid-Century Design like very few other pieces. Early models like this are difficult to come by and are very rarely in such good condition, as many have been worked on in some way or another before their value shot up. These chairs feature a super sleek design of steam-bent plywood, an incredibly innovative technique pioneered by Herman Miller in collaboration with the Eames's and manufacturing firm Evans. The large seat and back are mounted to a molded plywood base with rubber shock mounts, another Eames staple. This allows them to have excellent contrast through spacing, which gives them an excellent stance, almost insect-like. Both are early chairs with the 5-2-5 screw configurations beneath. This pair features all original hardware, finish, and shock mounts. Very few blemishes, and those that exist are minimal, barely visible even in our high-res pictures. At this time, we have two early pairs, as seen in in photos. We also have another single early model, and two extremely rare pre-production chairs with the accompanying molded plywood coffee table...
Rubber, Wood, Plywood
