Charles Eames (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) (pronounced [imz]) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker who, together with his wife Ray, is responsible for many classic, iconic designs of the 20th century. June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Design, usually considered in the context of the applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other such creative endeavours, is used as both a noun and a verb. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (December 15, 1912 - August 21, 1988) was an American artist, designer, architect and filmmaker who, together with her husband Charles, is responsible for many classic, iconic designs of the 20th century. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

Biography

Charles Ormond Eames, Jr was born in 1907 in Saint Louis, Missouri. By the time he was 14 years old, while attending high school, Charles worked at the Laclede Steel Company as a part-time laborer, where he learned about engineering, drawing, and architecture (and also first entertained the idea of one day becoming an architect). This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Charles briefly studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis on an architectural scholarship. He proposed studying Frank Lloyd Wright to his professors, and when he would not cease his interest in modern architects, he was dismissed from the university. In the report describing why he was dismissed from the university, a professor wrote the comment "His views were too modern." While at Washington University, he met his first wife, Catherine Woermann, whom he married in 1929. A year later, they had a daughter, Lucia. Washington University in St. ... Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867—April 9, 1959) was one of the most prominent and influential architects during the first half of the 20th century. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

After he left school and was married, Charles began his own architectural practice, with partners Charles Gray and later Walter Pauley.

Silhouettes of Charles and Ray Eames from the educational film A Communications Primer

One great influence on him was the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (whose son Eero, also an architect, would become a partner and friend). At the elder Saarinen's invitation, he moved in 1938 with his wife Catherine and daughter Lucia to Michigan, to further study architecture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he would become a teacher and head of the industrial design department. One of the requirements of the Architecture and Urban Planning Program, at the time Eames applied, was for the student to have decided upon his project and gathered as much pertinent information in advance – Eames' interest was in the St. Louis waterfront. Together with Eero Saarinen he designed prize-winning furniture for New York's Museum of Modern Art "Organic Design" competition. Their work displayed the new technique of wood moulding (originally developed by Alvar Aalto), that Eames would further develop in many moulded plywood products, including, beside chairs and other furniture, splints and stretchers for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Image File history File links Charles_and_Ray_Eames-Silhouettes-Communications_primer_256kb. ... Image File history File links Charles_and_Ray_Eames-Silhouettes-Communications_primer_256kb. ... Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (August 20, 1873, Rantasalmi, Finland – July 1, 1950, Cranbrook, Michigan, United States) was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. ... Saarinens Gateway Arch frames The Old Courthouse, which sits at the heart of the city of Saint Louis, near the rivers edge. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ... The art museum and library of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, designed by world-renowned architect Eliel Saarinen. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... View across garden, in new MoMA building by Yoshio Taniguchi. ... Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (February 3, 1898 — May 11, 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer, sometimes called the Father of Modernism in the Nordic countries. ... Toy constructed from plywood. ... Typical Western wooden chair A chair is a piece of furniture for sitting, consisting of a seat, a back, and sometimes arm rests, commonly for use by one person. ... Look up furniture in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

In 1941, Charles and Catherine divorced, and he married his Cranbrook colleague Ray Kaiser, who was born in Sacramento, California. He then moved with her to Los Angeles, California, where they would work and live for the rest of their lives. In the late 1940s, as part of the Arts & Architecture magazine "Case Study" program, Ray and Charles designed and built the groundbreaking Eames House, Case Study House #8, as their home. Located upon a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and constructed entirely of pre-fabricated steel parts intended for industrial construction, it remains a milestone of modern architecture. For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (December 15, 1912 - August 21, 1988) was an American artist, designer, architect and filmmaker who, together with her husband Charles, is responsible for many classic, iconic designs of the 20th century. ... Nickname: City of Angels Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: State California County Los Angeles County Incorporated April 4, 1850 Government  - Type mayor-council  - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D)  - City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo  - Governing body City Council Area  - City  465. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949. ... The Case Study Houses were experiments in residental architecture sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the residential housing boom caused by the end of... The Eames House (also known as Case Study House No. ... The Case Study Houses were experiments in residental architecture sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the residential housing boom caused by the end of... Le Corbusiers Villa Savoye, a well known example of modern architecture Modern architecture is a term given to a number of building styles with similar characteristics, primarily the simplification of form and the elimination of ornament, that first arose around 1900. ...

Designers

In the 1950s, the Eameses would continue their work in architecture and modern furniture design, often (like in the earlier moulded plywood work) pioneering innovative technologies, such as the fiberglass and plastic resin chairs and the wire mesh chairs designed for Herman Miller. Besides this work, Charles would soon channel his interest in photography into the production of short films. From their first one, the unfinished Traveling Boy (1950), to the extraordinary Powers of Ten (1977), their cinematic work was an outlet for ideas, a vehicle for experimentation and education. // Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. ... Modern furniture was a tremendous departure from all furniture design that had gone before it. ... Bundle of fiberglass Fiberglass or glassfibre is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. ... Herman Miller, Inc. ... Photography is the process of making pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a sensor or film. ... Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Powers of Ten is a 1977 short documentary film which depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten (see also logarithmic scale and order of magnitude). ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ...

The Eameses also conceived and designed a number of landmark exhibitions. The first of these, Mathematica: a world of numbers...and beyond (1961), was sponsored by IBM, and is the only one of their exhibitions still extant. The original was created for a new wing of the (currently named) California Science Center; it is now owned by and on display at the New York Hall of Science. In late 1961 a duplicate was created for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago; in 1980 it moved to the Museum of Science, Boston. Another version was created for the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair IBM exhibit. After the World's Fair it was moved to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle where it stayed until 1980. The Mathematica Exhibition is still considered a model for scientific popularization exhibitions. It was followed by "A Computer Perspective: Background to the Computer Age" (1971) and "The World of Franklin and Jefferson" (1975-1977), among others. 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... The California Science Center (sometimes spelled California Sciencenter) is a museum in Los Angeles. ... The New York Hall of Science occupies one of the few remaining structures of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City (USA). ... The Museum of Science and Industry is housed in the only surviving building from the 1893 World Columbian Exposition and is a National Historic Landmark. ... Outside the Museum of Science, August 2005 The Museum of Science (MoS) is a Boston, Massachusetts landmark, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. ... The Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway meet at the fairgrounds. ... The IMAX dome dominates this view of the Pacific Science Center Arches and fountains The Pacific Science Center is a science museum in Seattle, Washington. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ...

The office of Charles and Ray Eames, which functioned for more than four decades (1943-88) at 901 Washington Boulevard in Venice, California, included in its staff, at one time of another, a number of remarkable designers, like Don Albinson, Deborah Sussman, Richard Foy and Henry Beer. Among the many important designs originating there are the molded-plywood DCW (Dining Chair Wood) and DCM (Dining Chair Metal with a plywood seat) (1945), Eames Lounge Chair (1956), the Aluminum Group furniture (1958) and as well as the Eames Chaise (1968), designed for Charles's friend, film director Billy Wilder, as well as molded plywood leg splints for the US Navy, the playful Do-Nothing Machine (1957), an early solar energy experiment, and a number of toys. Venice Beach and Boardwalk Venice, California, is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California. ... The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman was designed in 1956 by designers Charles and Ray Eames. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ... Billy Wilder (June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American journalist, screenwriter, film director, and producer whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ...

Short films produced by the couple often document their interests in collecting toys and cultural artifacts on their travels. The films also record the process of hanging their exhibits or producing classic furniture designs, to the purposefully mundane topic of filming soap suds moving over the pavement of a parking lot. Perhaps their most popular movie, "Powers of 10", gives a dramatic demonstration of orders of magnitude by visually zooming away from the earth to the edge of the universe, and then microscopically zooming into the nucleus of a carbon atom. Charles was a prolific photographer as well with thousands of images of their furniture, exhibits and collections, and now a part of the Library of Congress. An order of magnitude is the class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it. ...

Charles Eames died of a heart attack on August 21, 1978 while on a consulting trip in his native Saint Louis, and now has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Ray died 10 years later to the exact day. 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The St. ...

Philosophy

A sketch by Charles Eames illustrating the Eames design Process

The Eames philosophy was very much entrenched in process. Process to get to the final product often took years of trial and error. Image File history File links Eames-design_process. ... Image File history File links Eames-design_process. ...

In 1970-71, Eames gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. At the lectures, the Eames viewpoint and philosophy are related through Charles' own telling of what he called the banana leaf parable, a banana leaf being the most basic dish off which to eat in southern India. He related the progression of design and its process where the banana leaf is transformed into something fantastically ornate. He explains the next step and ties it to the design process by finishing the parable with: Lectures held at Harvard University by distinguished academics. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) , is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. One of the eight Ivies, it was founded in 1636. ...

"But you can go beyond that and the guys that have not only means, but a certain amount of knowledge and understanding, go the next step and they eat off of a banana leaf. And I think that in these times when we fall back and regroup, that somehow or other, the banana leaf parable sort of got to get working there, because I'm not prepared to say that the banana leaf that one eats off of is the same as the other eats off of, but it's that process that has happened within the man that changes the banana leaf. And as we attack these problems – and I hope and I expect that the total amount of energy used in this world is going to go from high to medium to a little bit lower – the banana leaf idea might have a great part in it."

Works

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness. Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

Architecture

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch model home (193?)
• St. Mary's Church (Helena, Arkansas) (193?)
• Meyer House (1938)
• Bridge house (Eames - Saarinen) (1945)
• Case Study House #8 (1945)
• Eames House (1949)

The Case Study Houses were experiments in residental architecture sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the residential housing boom caused by the end of... The Eames House (also known as Case Study House No. ...

Selected films

• A Communications Primer (1953)
• Toccata for Toy Trains (1957)
• Tops
• Powers of 10 (1977)
• Fiberglass Chairs
• SX-70
• Eames Lounge Chair

Toccata for Toy Trains is a 1957 short film by Charles and Ray Eames. ... Powers of Ten is a 1977 short documentary film which starts out with a couple picnicking in a park. ...

Exhibition design

• Glimpses of the USA (7 screens for the American exhibition in Moscow, Sokoolniki Park) (1959)
• Mathematica (for IBM) (1961)
• IBM Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair
• Nehru: The man and his India (1965)

Exhibits and retrospectives

• Library of Congress exhibit (1999)

Furniture

• Eames-Saarinen Kleinhans chair (1939)
• Eames-Saarinen organic chair (1941)
• Children's chairs (1945)
• Eames Lounge Chair Wood (LCW) (1945)
• Circular table wood (1945)
• Eames Plywood Side Chair (1946)
• La chaise (1948)
• Eames RAR (Rocker Armchair Rod) Rocker (1948)
• Eames Eiffel Plastic Side Chair (1950)
• Eames Eiffel Plastic Armchair (1950)
• Eames Desk and Storage Units (1950)
• Eames Desk and Storage Units (1950)
• Eames Sofa Compact (1954)
• Eames lounge chair and ottoman (1956)
• Eames Aluminum Management Chair (1958)
• Eames Aluminum Side Chair (1958)
• Eames Aluminum Ottoman (1958)
• Eames Walnut Stool Shape A & B (1960)
• Eames tandem sling seating (1962)
• Two piece plastic chair (1971)

The Eames Lounge Chair Wood (LCW) (also known as Low Chair Wood or Eames Plywood Lounge Chair) is a chair designed by husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames, considered to be one of the most influential design teams of the Twentieth Century. ... The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman was designed in 1956 by designers Charles and Ray Eames. ...

Other

• Molded plywood splint (~1942) for the US military
• Molded plywood nose cone and other parts for the CG-16 (flying flatcar) glider (1943)
• Pilot seat (1946) Prototype in molded plywood for the military
• Newton deck of cards
• House of cards (1952)

Quotes

• "No, Ray is not my brother."
• "Innovate as a last resort."
• "Design is the appropriate combination of materials in order to solve a problem."
• "I don't remember being forced to accept compromises, but I've willingly accepted constraints."
• "Take your pleasures seriously."
• “The details are not the details. They make the design.”

Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (December 15, 1912 - August 21, 1988) was an American artist, designer, architect and filmmaker who, together with her husband Charles, is responsible for many classic, iconic designs of the 20th century. ...

Further reading

• John Neuhart, Marilyn Neuhart, Ray Eames Eames Design. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1989. (ISBN 0-8109-0879-4)
• Eames Demetrios An Eames Primer. New York: Universe, 2002. (ISBN 0-7893-0629-8)
• Gössel, Peter (ED)Koenig Gloria Eames Taschen 2005 (ISBN 3-8228-3651-6)

Gnomes 30th Anniversary Edition from Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ... Taschen is an art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. ...

External links

Official sites:

• Eames Office Resources
• Eames Foundation
• Eames Online shop
• Eames Fabric Designs

Pictures

Chairs and furniture:

• Museum of Modern Art collection (MoMA.org)
• Eames Lounge Chair (produced by Herman Miller)
• Eames Chaise (Herman Miller)
• Eames Wire Chair
• Library of Congress archive
• Photographs by Charles Eames in the Library of Congress collection
• Eames Online shop

Resources

• Charles Eames - Design Dictionary Architect and designer Charles Eames.
• www.modernfurnitureclassics.com - Working with the Eames - an interview with designer Henrik de Kanter.

Film references

• Powers of 10
• Charles Eames at the Internet Movie Database

Films in the public domain: The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about motion pictures, actors, movie stars, TV shows, TV stars, production crew personnel, movie pictures, cast, crew as well as video games. ...

• Communications Primer, A (1953) (www.archive.org)
• Information Machine, The (1958)