Overview

Designers

Charles and Ray Eames

Product Designers Ray and Charles Eames

Products by Charles and Ray Eames

  • Black Eames Lounge Chair. Black Eames Lounge Chair. Select to go to the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman product page.
    Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman Herman Miller
  • An Eames Turned Stool with a rich wood finish. An Eames Turned Stool with a rich wood finish. Select to go to the Eames Turned Stools product page.
    Eames Turned Stool Herman Miller
  • Eames Molded Plywood Chair. Eames Molded Plywood Chair. Select to go to the Eames Molded Plywood Chairs product page.
    Eames Molded Plywood Chairs Herman Miller
  • An Eames Hang-It-All storage rack with wood knobs. An Eames Hang-It-All storage rack with wood knobs. Select to go to the Eames Hang-It-All product page.
    Eames Hang-It-All Herman Miller
  • Silver Eames Wire Stool. Silver Eames Wire Stool. Select to go to the Eames Wire Stool product page.
    Eames Wire Stool Herman Miller
  • Eames Molded Wood Stool. Eames Molded Wood Stool. Select to go to the Eames Molded Wood Stool product page.
    Eames Molded Wood Stool Herman Miller
  • Light blue Eames Molded Plastic Stool. Light blue Eames Molded Plastic Stool. Select to go to the Eames Molded Plastic Stool product page.
    Eames Molded Plastic Stool Herman Miller
  • Red Eames Molded Fiberglass Stool. Select to go to the Eames Molded Fiberglass Stool product page. Red Eames Molded Fiberglass Stool. Select to go to the Eames Molded Fiberglass Stool product page.
    Eames Molded Fiberglass Stool Herman Miller
  • Black Eames Tandem Sling Seating. Black Eames Tandem Sling Seating. Select to go to the Eames Tandem Sling Seating product page.
    Eames Tandem Sling Seating Herman Miller
  • Red Eames Sofa Compact. Red Eames Sofa Compact. Select to go to the Eames Sofa Compact product page.
    Eames Sofa Compact Herman Miller
  • White Eames Sofa. White Eames Sofa. Select to go to the Eames Sofa product page.
    Eames Sofa Herman Miller
  • White Eames Chaise. White Eames Chaise. Select to go to the Eames Chaise product page.
    Eames Chaise Herman Miller
  • A rectangular Eames Wire Base Low Table with a light wood finish. A rectangular Eames Wire Base Low Table with a light wood finish. Select to go to the Eames Wire Base Low Table product page.
    Eames Wire Base Low Table Herman Miller
  • An Eames Rectangular Coffee Table with a light wood finish. An Eames Rectangular Coffee Table with a light wood finish. Select to go to the Eames Rectangular Coffee Table product page.
    Eames Rectangular Coffee Table Herman Miller
  • A round Eames Molded Plywood Coffee Table. A round Eames Molded Plywood Coffee Table. Select to go to the Eames Molded Plywood Coffee Table product page.
    Eames Molded Plywood Coffee Table Herman Miller
  • A rectangular Eames Coffee Table with a white top. A rectangular Eames Coffee Table with a white top. Select to go to the Eames Coffee Table product page.
    Eames Coffee Table Herman Miller
  • An Eames Wire Base Elliptical Table with a gray top. An Eames Wire Base Elliptical Table with a gray top. Select to go to the Eames Wire Base Elliptical Table product page.
    Eames Wire Base Elliptical Table Herman Miller
  • Eames Wire Stool Outdoor with black finish in counter height. Eames Wire Stool Outdoor with black finish in counter height. Select to go to the Eames Wire Stool Outdoor product page.
    Eames Wire Stool Outdoor Herman Miller
  • Black Eames Soft Pad Chair. Black Eames Soft Pad Chair. Select to go to the Eames Soft Pad Chairs product page.
    Eames Soft Pad Chairs Herman Miller
  • Eames Molded Wood Chair. Eames Molded Wood Chair. Select to go to the Eames Molded Wood Chairs product page.
    Eames Molded Wood Chairs Herman Miller
  • A plywood folding screen in a light wood finish. A plywood folding screen in a light wood finish. Select to go to the Eames Molded Plywood Folding Screen product page.
    Eames Molded Plywood Folding Screen Herman Miller
  • An Eames Molded Fiberglass Side Chair with a dowel base and dark green seat. An Eames Molded Fiberglass Side Chair with a dowel base and dark green seat. Select to go to the Eames Molded Fiberglass Chair product page.
    Eames Molded Fiberglass Chairs Herman Miller
  • Black Eames Executive Chair. Black Eames Executive Chair. Select to go to the Eames Executive Chairs product page.
    Eames Executive Chairs Herman Miller
  • A mid-century modern Eames Desk. A mid-century modern Eames Desk. Select to go to the Eames Desks and Storage Units product page.
    Eames Desks and Storage Units Herman Miller
  • Black Eames Aluminum Group outdoor chair. Black Eames Aluminum Group outdoor chair. Select to go to the Eames Aluminum Group Chairs Outdoor product page.
    Eames Aluminum Group Chairs Outdoor Herman Miller
  • Eames Wire Chair Outdoor with white finish and wire base. Eames Wire Chair Outdoor with white finish and wire base. Select to go to the Eames Wire Chairs Outdoor product page.
    Eames Wire Chairs Outdoor Herman Miller
  • White Eames Wire Chair with light wood dowel base. White Eames Wire Chair with light wood dowel base. Select to go to the Eames Wire Chairs product page.
    Eames Wire Chairs Herman Miller
  • Eames Task Chair with gray fiberglass shell and gray upholstery. Eames Task Chair with gray fiberglass shell and gray upholstery. Select to go to the Eames Task Chair product page.
    Eames Task Chairs Herman Miller
  • An Eames Wire Base low outdoor table with a stone top. An Eames Wire Base low outdoor table with a stone top. select to go to the Eames Wire Base Low Table Outdoor product page.
    Eames Wire Base Low Table Outdoor Herman Miller
  • A rectangular Eames outdoor table with a black stone top. A rectangular Eames outdoor table with a black stone top. Select to go to the Eames Tables Outdoor product page.
    Eames Tables Outdoor Herman Miller
  • An oval Eames conference table. An oval Eames conference table. Select to go to the Eames Tables product page.
    Eames Tables Herman Miller
  • Light blue Eames Molded Plastic Chair with dowel legs. Light blue Eames Molded Plastic Chair with dowel legs. Select to go to the Eames Molded Plastic Chairs product page.
    Eames Molded Plastic Chairs Herman Miller
  • Black Eames Aluminum Group Chair. Black Eames Aluminum Group Chair. Select to go to the Eames Aluminum Group Chairs product page.
    Eames Aluminum Group Chairs Herman Miller
  • An Eames 2500 Series Executive Desk in walnut with black leather inlay. An Eames 2500 Series Executive Desk in oak with black leather inlay.
    Eames 2500 Series Executive Desk Herman Miller

A chair that looked like a potato chip. Another that resembled a “well-used first baseman’s mitt.” A folding screen that rippled...

With a grand sense of adventure, Charles and Ray Eames turned their curiosity and boundless enthusiasm into creations that established them as a truly great husband-and-wife design team. Their unique synergy led to a whole new look in furniture. Lean and modern. Playful and functional. Sleek, sophisticated, and beautifully simple. That was and is the “Eames look.”

That look and their relationship with Herman Miller started with molded plywood chairs in the late 1940s and includes the world-renowned Eames lounge chair, now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Charles and Ray achieved their monumental success by approaching each project the same way: Does it interest and intrigue us? Can we make it better? Will we have “serious fun” doing it.

“The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.”

- Charles Eames

They loved their work, which was a combination of art and science, design and architecture, process and product, style and function. “The details are not details,” said Charles. “They make the product.”

A problem-solver who encouraged experimentation among his staff, Charles once said his dream was “to have people working on useless projects. These have the germ of new concepts.”

“I think the most difficult thing is to keep the big idea—to be able to look critically at the work.”

- Ray Eames

Their own concepts evolved over time, not overnight. As Charles noted about the development of the Molded Plywood Chairs, “Yes, it was a flash of inspiration,” he said, “a kind of 30-year flash.”

With these two, one thing always seemed to lead to another. Their revolutionary work in molded plywood led to their breakthrough work in molded fiberglass seating. A magazine contest led to their highly innovative “Case Study” house. Their love of photography led to film making, including a huge seven-screen presentation at the Moscow World’s Fair in 1959, in a dome designed by their friend and colleague, Buckminster Fuller.

Graphic design led to showroom design, toy collecting to toy inventing. And a wooden plank contraption, rigged up by their friend, director Billy Wilder for taking naps, led to their acclaimed chaise design.

A design critic once said that this extraordinary couple “just wanted to make the world a better place.” That they did. They also made it a lot more interesting.

Office/Studio

The Eames Office

Awards/Recognition

Organic Furniture Competition, Museum of Modern Art, 1940

Emmy Award, (Graphics), “The Fabulous Fifties,” 1960

Kaufmann International Design Award, 1961

25 Year American Institute of Architects Award, 1977

Eliot Norton Chair of Poetry, Harvard, 1971

Queen’s Gold Medal for Architecture, 1979

Named “Most Influential Designer of the 20th Century,” WORLDESIGN ‘85, Industrial Designers Society of America, 1985

The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention, Traveling Exhibition, Library of Congress, 1999

Distribution Rights

Herman Miller and Vitra are two independent companies with a common interest in the designs and legacies of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, and Alexander Girard.

In 1956, Vitra became Herman Miller’s licensee for continental Europe. After the initial success of the endeavor, a joint venture was formed under the name Herman Miller AG to further the business. The cooperation was accompanied by a warm personal relationship between the De Pree family of Herman Miller and the Fehlbaum family of Vitra. For over two decades the companies successfully collaborated to establish a market for good design, and further the designs of Eames, Nelson, and Girard in Europe. When the partnership was dissolved in 1984, the rights to the designs of Eames, Nelson, and Girard were assigned to Vitra for Europe and the Middle East, while the Herman Miller name and program were retained by Herman Miller.

The two companies continue to have a friendly relationship and together with the descendants of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard keep the spirit of these great designers alive.