Everett Swain

Professor Sullivan

GDES 3300.01

Why Eames?

Is graphic design history a real tangible subject or is it an idea or concept

created from multiple mediums and fields in art? Why do we study its history?

These questions are hard to answer but can be answered when studying the

work of, among other designers, Charles and Ray Eames. They were key

innovators in American design, not exclusively known for their unique chair

designs, but for films, architecture, and functional art. As, we take a look into a

brief part in history, the Eames’ body of work and its cultural impact will show a

correlation of relevancy to designers today.

Charles Ormond Eames Jr., born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri, at the age

of 14 worked part-time at a steel company while attending high school. It was

there he learned about engineering, architecture, and drawing; he also developed

a brief aspiration of becoming an architect. After graduating high school, Eames

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entertained himself for two years studying architecture at Washington

University in St. Louis. He was dismissed for a number of reported reasons but

the two most commonly told stories were: his views were too modern due to his

advocacy of Frank Lloyd Wright, and he had severe sleep-deprivation because of

his employment as an architect while in college. Following his dismissal from

college, he took on a partner and started his own architectural practice. Eames

began expand his and design ideas far beyond architecture; because of that, h

received a fellowship to Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. After his first

marriage failed, it was at Cranbrook where met his soon-to-be-wife and

colleague Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser.

Ray Eames, born in 1912 in Sacramento, California, was an artist, designer,

and filmmaker who studied abstract expressionist paintings with Hans Hofmann

in New York. She founded a group called the American Abstract Artists group in

1936. She, much to the same path as her husband, studied at Cranbrook

Academy of Art, where she met and assisted Charles Eames, and Eero Saarinen

with preparing designs for their upcoming competition, “Organic Home

Furniture” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1940, which they took first

place finishes, That following year, Charles and Ray Eames were married and

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moved back to California, and started the beginning of their groundbreaking

careers in which they would become two of the most important American

designers of the 20th century.

How did Charles and Ray become such iconic figures in design as a

whole? What they were able to accomplish is truly unique and revolutionary for

not only American designers, but also the design community worldwide. Charles

Eames said, “design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to

accomplish a particular purpose”, (brainy quote). The Eames became pioneers in

the design community by changing the way you create the simplest of ideas. One

of which is the concept of the chair. Thinking of the best and affordable way to sit

comfortably, the Eames designed furniture with molded fiberglass and plywood;

it was this method in which they also created stretchers, splints, and experiment

glider shells for the US Navy in WWII. In 1946, their molded plywood furniture

production began and prepared for the masses. The Dining wood, Dining Chair

Metal with a plywood seat, and the Eames lounge Chair Wood were just a few

among the innovative furniture designs the two produced for the masses. In

1956, the Eames Lounge Chair Wood was named “the chair of the century”,

according to an influential architectural critic, Esther McCoy (eamesoffice.com).

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The idea behind these designs “was to find a solution, which would provide

comfortable and affordable furniture that can easily be mass-produced” (Eternity

Modern).

In 1949, The Eames designed and built their iconic house in Pacific

Palisades, California. The house was apart of the Case Study House Program for

Arts and Architecture Magazine; becoming a landmark and haven, so to speak, for

architects and designers around the world. The house was considered one of the

most important post war houses built in the world because it “represented an

attempt to state an idea rather than a fixed architectural pattern.”

(eamesfoundation.org).

What happens when you do something so well for so long? Add variance

to your repertoire by venturing into another field. In the early 1950’s, the Eames

took their admiration for and skill in photography and ventured into

filmmaking. The two created over 85 short films whose subject matter ranged

from simple objects and sea creatures, to the explanation of complex mathematic,

scientific, and philosophic principles and theories. The Powers of 10 is just one of

the many important films that display the Eames’ creativity and strong interest

in other fields. The movie shows the scientific view of a man at a picnic as the

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camera moves 10 times further every 10 seconds starting from the full view of the

man’s body to the edge of the universe, then back towards the man until it

reaches the interior of an atom.

Exhibition design is a must for iconic designers, so quite naturally they

designed a multitude of exhibits for museums. Mathematica: A World of Numbers

and Beyond… was an exhibit for IBM showed in 1961 in Los Angeles at the now

California Science Center. The exhibit was intended to “enlighten the amateur

without embarrassing the specialist” giving a “real flavor of the fun of

mathematics” (Eames office). All of these accomplishments were great for the

people that lived at the time they were created, but how do they impact

designers and architects of today?

Charles and Ray Eames’ work “challenged America to think in modern

terms”, contributing to making design an “important part of post-war economy

in the US” (ellentait.com), all of which is relevant to today’s designers’ way of

working. Without the use of growing modern technological advances, the

modern day designer would not be able to consider themselves graphic

designers because of the bridging of clients ideas and communication to the

public’s wants and needs that technology provides. There would be a lack of

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versatility, and interest to expand, or going beyond ones respective field of work,

thus creating monotony. The philosophy of combining actuality and

functionality, is the primary role of graphic designers to this day; the “primary

criteria for design is recognizing the need by the designer” (Charles Eames).

Today graphic designers recognize what the masses or clients need and begin the

creative process of designing around that need. Not only shaping architectural

and industrial design, Charles and Ray Eames’ major contributions with their

philosophies and methods of creating for the masses remain a staple in graphic

design today.

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 Work Cited

"Charles and Ray Eames." Art Galleries : Art Paintings : Art Gallery : Los Angeles

County Museums of Art : ArtSceneCal.com. Web. 08 Dec. 2010.

<http://www.artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2000/Articles0900/CRE

amesA.html>.

"Charles Ray Eames / Design Museum Collection : - Design/Designer

Information." Design Museum London. Web. 08 Dec. 2010.

<http://designmuseum.org/design/charles-ray-eames>.

"Exhibitions." Eames Office. Web. 08 Dec. 2010.

<http://www.eamesoffice.com/exhibitions>.

"Furniture -- The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention

(Library of Congress Exhibition)." Library of Congress Home. Web. 08 Dec. 2010.

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<http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/furniture.html>.
Then, By. "Eames House History." Eames Foundation. Web. 08 Dec. 2010.

<http://eamesfoundation.org/eames-house-history>

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