Charles & Ray Eames

Charles Eames was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1907 and studied architecture at Washington University in his home town.

In 1938, after a career as an independent architect with little success, he accepted a fellowship at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he later headed the industrial design department.

There he met Ray Kaiser, an artist and designer, whom he married in 1941 and who became his partner in life and work.

In 1940, with the architect and designer Eero Saarinen, he entered MoMA's "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition in New York with modern, innovative seats in moulded plywood.

Lounge Chair Wood - moulded plywood lounge chair

The design won two first prizes. In the following years their plywood experiments caught the attention of the furniture company Herman Miller.

This led to a lifelong collaboration: with Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames created a vast range of furniture designed for mass production.

Lounge Chair and Ottoman (1956) - armchair with footstool - Herman Miller

Their most successful designs for Herman Miller include: Eames Aluminum Group and Soft Pad Chairs, Eames Anniversary Table, Eames Chaise, Eames Desk Unit, Eames Elliptical Table, Eames Executive Chairs, Eames Hang-It-All, Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, Eames Molded Plywood Chairs, Eames Molded Plywood Coffee Table, Eames Molded Plywood Folding Screen, Eames Sofa, Eames Sofa Compact, Eames Storage Units, Eames Tandem Sling Seating, Eames Walnut Stools, Eames Wire-Base Side Chairs, Eames Wire-Base Table and La Fonda Base Table.

Among the many prizes and awards won by Charles and Ray Eames:

• Organic Design in Home Furnishings, Museum of Modern Art, 1940
• Emmy Award for the graphics of "The Fabulous Fifties", 1960
• Kaufmann International Design Award, 1961
• Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry, Harvard University, 1970-1971
• Twenty-five Year Award of the American Institute of Architects, 1977
• Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, 1979
• "Most Influential Designers of the 20th Century", WORLDESIGN '85, Industrial Designers Society of America, 1985
• "The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention", travelling exhibition of the Library of Congress, 1999

Charles died in 1978, Ray exactly ten years later, in 1988.