Charles and Ray Eames

Lore & Background

Charles Eames secured an architecture scholarship at Washington University, but his devotion to the practices of Frank Lloyd Wright caused issues with his tutors and he left after two years of study. Charles arrived at the school on an industrial design fellowship as recommended by Eliel Saarinen, but soon became an instructor. Ray enrolled in various courses to expand upon her previous education in abstract painting in New York City under the guidance of Hans Hofmann. Charles entered into a furniture competition—with his “best friend” Eero Saarinen—hosted by the Museum of Modern Art. Eames and Saarinen's goal was to mold a single piece of plywood into a chair; the Organic Chair was born out of this attempt. Ray stepped in to help with the graphic design for their entry. The chair won first prize, but its form was unable to be successfully mass-produced. Eames and Saarinen considered it a failure, as the tooling for molding a chair from a single piece of wood had not yet been invented. Their honeymoon was a road trip to relocate to Los Angeles. Their first home, after staying in a hotel for a few weeks, was Richard Neutra's Strathmore Apartments in the Westwood neighborhood. Charles and Ray began creating tooling and molding plywood into chairs in the second bedroom of the apartment, eventually finding more adequate work spaces in Venice. The Eameses worked approximately 13-hour days, six or seven days a week, and directed the work of a team of collaborators. Through the years, its staff included many notable designers: Gregory Ain (who was Chief Engineer for the Eameses during World War II), Don Albinson, Harry Bertoia, Annette Del Zoppo, Peter Jon Pearce, and Deborah Sussman. The Eameses believed in 'learning by doing'; before introducing a new idea at the Eames Office, Charles and Ray extensively explored needs and constraints of the idea.

Reader's Guide

Charles and Ray Eames are significant for their pioneering use of bent plywood and fiberglass in mass-produced furniture, and for their influential role in the Case Study House Program. Their Eames House (Case Study House #8) exemplified modern residential design using industrial materials. Their furniture designs, such as the Eames Lounge Chair and the Aluminum Group, remain iconic and are still manufactured by Herman Miller and Vitra. The couple's collaborative approach, combining Charles's public leadership with Ray's design contributions, set a model for creative partnership. Their legacy endures in the fields of industrial design, architecture, and film.

Did You Know?

• During World War II, the Eameses developed a bent-plywood leg splint for wounded soldiers, replacing metal traction splints that could cause gangrene.