Archinect - News

Eames Institute unveils new Eames Archives space in the Bay Area

2024-02-01T18:24:00-05:00

The nearly two-year-old Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has shared news of its arrival in a new permanent home in the San Francisco Bay Area that will consolidate its archival collection under one roof for the first time.

The new location helps the Institute engage with the collection, which had until now been warehoused at the Eames Office global headquarters in Venice, California. The new Eames Archives will now be housed and exhibited in a gallery space located in Richmond, California, about 15 minutes north of Oakland.

Ray & Charles Eames. Image courtesy Eames Office

Plans had been originally to have the archive located at the Eames Institute’s ranch complex in nearby Sonoma County. Now, the nonprofit's first public space includes a Gallery, Collections Center, and Archives Study Center for its more than 40,000 artifacts overseen by dedicated on-site preservation specialists. A small gift shop bookends the experience. The Eames Institute says this is all vital to making it...

Herman Miller unveils new Eames Shell Chair made of 100% recycled plastic

2022-10-10T13:33:00-04:00

Furniture giant Herman Miller has announced that its entire portfolio of the iconic Eames Molded Plastic Chairs will now be made using 100% post-industrial recycled plastic. According to the company, this is the equivalent of about 122 tons of plastic per year and a 15% annual carbon reduction.

Accompanying the new material composition is new collection of shell colors, which will include the previously offered Black, White, and Red Orange colors and nine new hues: Evergreen, Cocoa, Deep Yellow, Brick Red, Pale Blue, Medium Grey, Blue Green, Grey Green, and Light Grey.

Previously: Iconic Eames chair is transformed into intriguingly obscure art by British artist and designer Chris Labrooy

The use of recycled plastic is just another iteration of the Shell Chair, which has undergone a variety of material transformations since the chair was first introduced in 1950. The original design included fiberglass, with bent wire included the following year. In 2006, the chairs utilized polyprop...

A look back at Charles & Ray Eames' lesser-known designs in honor of their symmetry in life and death

2022-08-22T18:31:00-04:00

Yesterday's date, August 21st, occupies a unique place in architectural and design history as the day when Charles and Ray Eames both passed away, separated by a decade (1978 and 1988), respectively.

The shared life and work of the iconic power couple has since become the subject of numerous books, catalogs, museum retrospectives, and an excellent 2011 documentary (to name only a few), and enjoys an outsized place in the rich lineage of other husband-and-wife architectural partnerships continued today by the work of SO – IL, TWBTA, Höweler + Yoon, DS+R, and many others.

From the possible influence on early hip-hop carried on later by Ice Cube and Michael Ford, to Ray’s rediscovered RIBA Gold Medal speech, the studio’s legacy as ongoing source of inspiration, and the tranquility of watching perhaps their most famous design being assembled by hand, Archinect has explored the output of their relationship from a number of different angles over the years. All are exemplary of the many me...

Eames Office catalog to be examined in a collectable 80-year retrospective

2021-11-05T14:09:00-04:00

To coincide with the firm’s historic 80th anniversary, Eames Office is being celebrated with a retrospective currently taking place at the legendary ISETAN THE SPACE gallery in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward.

The influential duo’s work and simple philosophy are seemingly more relevant than ever, and their contributions to the visual and material culture of the 20th century will be examined in a selling exhibition spanning the entirety of the firm’s eight-decade creative and commercial output.

Image courtesy Eames Office

Divided into three spaces, the exhibition starts with the Eameses' early-40’s breakthrough and extends to their modern-day heirs’ continued collaborations with designers like Reebok, Vitra, and Uniqlo.

Image courtesy Eames Office

The Art & Technology portion centers Charles and Ray’s 1943 plywood sculpture as the linchpin to which a diverse array of creations can trace their origin. Everything from designs for a Navy leg splint during World War II, to their important films, and...

Reebok and Eames Office reunite with upcoming sneaker collection

2021-10-06T16:23:00-04:00

Following up from their exclusive friends and family shoe collaboration, Reebok and Eames Office have reunited to create an entire sneaker collection that pays homage to the work and legacy of Charles and Ray Eames.

In the works since 2019, the Reebok x Eames Club C collection is the first-ever footwear partnership with and authorized by the Eames Office. The line sees one of Reebok’s most popular silhouettes, the Club C, embellished in designs informed by the Eames’ work and paintings. And, unlike the friends and family shoe, these will be available to purchase.

The first release of the collection will be the “Monotone Pack”, which comes in black and white colorways. The shoes feature heritage accents such as original size tongue tags, squared-off window boxes, classic logos, and a restored internal arch bandage for enhanced fit and comfort. Grey soles, woven EAMES tags, and a colorful triangle print in the insole provide subtle accents to the sneakers.

A second release, dubbed the...

Eames Office and Reebok collaborate to create shoe inspired by Eames House

2021-09-17T14:53:00-04:00

Eames Office has teamed up with Reebok to create a shoe celebrating the work of Charles and Ray Eames.

Made exclusively for Eames Office employees, the Reebok x Eames Club C (Friends and Family) sneaker is inspired by the iconic Eames House, also known as Case Study House No. 8. The shoe was recently revealed by Reebok senior global product marketing manager Leo Gamboa via Instagram.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Leo Gamboa (@leoneski)

The shoe mimics the color palette of the Eames House, with the multi-color Eames logo and tan and cream colorway and tongue. The insoles also feature Charles and Ray’s signatures. The shoes are packaged in a box decorated by the house’s façade in color.

Reebok and Eames Office initially teased the collaboration in March, citing a partnership “rooted in heritage that aims to bring together the worlds of fine art, interior architecture and streetwear.”

A never-released RIBA Royal Gold Medal speech by Ray Eames has been unveiled

2020-05-14T12:57:00-04:00

A never-released recording of the 131st presentation of the Royal Gold Medal to the office of Charles & Ray Eames has been unveiled for the first time by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Converted from its original analog format into digital by RIBA's former Chief Archivist, architectural historian Kurt Helrich, the recording presents the historical day Ray Eames became the first woman to receive the Royal Gold Medal.

"During the last 150 years, the Royal Gold Medal has crossed the Atlantic on ten occasions and tonight will be the eleventh. This is only the second occasion, however, that the medal has been conferred upon a corporate group of people. […] But this is the first and only occasion so far when the President of the day had the pleasure of investing a lady," said then RIBA President Gordon Graham in his presentation of the award to Eames.

Yet, while rising as the first woman to receive this high honor, the day marks the recognition of a formidable artist a...

Iconic Eames chair is transformed into intriguingly obscure art by British artist and designer Chris Labrooy

2019-06-05T13:00:00-04:00

There’s something Duchamp-esque about the latest work of Chris Labrooy. The British artist and designer’s ongoing remix project, Garden of Eames, transforms the classic Eames shell chair, designed in 1950, into surreal fine art that packs an absurdist punch.

There is no doubt about the long-lasting contributions Ray and Charles Eames have made in architecture and design. When their classic shell chair was created in 1950, its creation was initially a submission idea for the Museum of Modern Art's sponsored competition "International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design." The chair's material and straightforward style was designed for families to have an inexpensive alternative for furnishing their homes after the war. Produced in a variety of colors, patterns, and materials, the chair still lives on as an iconic furniture piece found in many homes, offices, and restaurants.

Eames interlocking fiberglass remix. Work and Image © Chris Labrooy

Eames greenhouse remix. Work and Image © Chris Labrooy

Understanding the chair's long-lasting impact on the design world, British artist and designer Chris Labrooy decided to take a different approach to the chair's look and use. Part of his ongoing remix project, Garden of Eames, Labrooy turns t...

Iconic Eames House to undergo new conservation plans as it turns 70

2019-04-22T15:21:00-04:00

Ahead of the Eames House's 70th anniversary, new plans for the conservation of the iconic midcentury-modern abode have been unveiled. The Getty Conservation Institute and the Eames Foundation have worked together to assemble a disciplinary team of heritage specialists to formulate a plan for the preservation of the home as well as the contents inside like artwork and custom furniture.

A national historic landmark, the Pacific Palisade home is owned by the Eames Foundation, who is intent on providing a long-term sustainable approach to the care of the site, buildings, and collections in their care. The new Conservation Management Plan will assist them in their efforts to ensure the authenticity of the home's original elements.

While the house remains in pretty good condition, corrosion and years of excessive sun exposure have caused fading and left objects brittle. The CMP will help the Foundation to address needed repairs to the house as well as the landscape.

“In developing the ...

This is what happens when you combine the Eames Lounge Chair with a computer mouse

2019-04-22T12:52:00-04:00

As paying a tribute to the legendary designers, the design addresses the ergonomics and style of a computer mouse from the perspective of designing furniture.

Shane Chen, a Brooklyn-based industrial designer, took two classic designs (well, one classic and one classically ubiquitous) and mashed them up into this compelling concept for a computer mouse.

Eames' radical plywood radio from 1946 to be reissued by Vitra

2018-09-21T12:57:00-04:00

Better known for their iconic lounge chairs, the mid-century designers Charles and Ray Eames spent a good portion of the post-war period applying their revolutionizing plywood-modeling process to radio housings. Dubbed "Design's Best-Kept Secret" by the Wall Street Journal, an estimated 200,000 of these radios were manufactured at the time and are now enjoying an afterlife on the auction circuit as a more affordable way of owning one of the couples masterful designs.

Eames Radio by Charles and Ray Eames reissued by Vitra.

One of these radios, however, considered too modern looking for the time, never saw production. That is now changing thanks to Vitra; the Swiss furniture company that owns the license to many of the Eames's work has decided to revive this compact radio. Limited to just 999 units, the reissued radio comes encased in a walnut cabinet and equipped with up-to-date technology by the British manufacturer REVO. Priced at $999, the radio does not come cheap, especially whe...

Eames office partners with clothing company Uniqlo

2017-09-25T13:27:00-04:00

In collaboration with the Eames Office, UNIQLO will launch its SPRZ NY EAMES Collection starting September 25, 2017. This collection will celebrate the groundbreaking contributions of Charles and Ray Eames to modern design, art, and culture.

The Japanese clothing company creates collaborations with famous fashion designers, museums and artists, and now also with architects. If you have always wanted a t-shirt with the image of a piece of modern furniture on it, this is your chance!

Courtesy of Eames Office

You can now buy the iconic Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman at CostCo

2017-04-19T12:29:00-04:00

It’s one of the most iconic pieces of mid-century modern architecture — and you can get it now at CostCo (provided you’re a member).

Designed by the famous duo themselves, the Herman Miller Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman is made with a seven-layer walnut plywood veneer frame and removable leather cushions. They live in museums as well as many a stylish home.

For just $3,899.99 you can get one yourself (with free shipping!). That might seem steep, but it’s a solid $1,407 less than you’d get if you bought directly from Herman Miller.

CostCo might not be the most swank retailer, but they're actually a pretty fitting purveyor of the chair. After all, the Eames strived to make good design affordable to everyone.

Bliss out to this tranquil video of an Eames Lounge Chair being assembled by hand

2016-10-11T14:16:00-04:00

It's like the furniture version of ASMR. This short video from Vitra shows the materials of an Eames Lounge Chair coming together:

Mores Eames on Archinect:

A “terrible, enjoyable bloody business”: the influential films of Charles and Ray Eames

2015-10-16T18:40:00-04:00

As a new exhibition at the Barbican in London shows, by the mid 1950s [Charles and Ray Eames] were producing films and multimedia presentations that are as much part of their formal and intellectual legacy as their furniture or the glass-walled Eames house itself. [...] the Eameses never conceived of the hundred or so films they made as movies per se, or even as experimental films. “They’re just attempts to get across an idea,” Charles claimed

Watch a select few of the Eames' "hundred or so" films below:

"House" (1955):

"Tops" (1969):

"Powers of 10" (1977):

Cutting across the Chicago Architecture Biennial: Andrés Jaque's "Superpowers of Ten" performance

2015-10-12T18:45:00-04:00

A sausage as tall as you are. A skin cell the size of a dinner plate. The universe, in a glittery fan. These are a few of the props used by Andrés Jaque, founding architect of the Office for Political Innovation, in his "Superpowers of Ten" performance – a play staged on the ground floor of the Chicago Athletic Association during the opening weekend of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Inspired by the Eames’ 1977 “Powers of Ten” film (the same year the Biennial’s namesake conference was held), the under-an-hour performance investigates the power of design to scale up, or down, into historic social and cultural sea changes.

Initially developed for the Lisbon Architecture Triennial in 2013, “Superpowers” is staged like a super-polemical elementary school play: a narrator guides actors, dressed in cartoonish cardboard or papier-mâché costumes, through stories of 20th century design history. The opening act plays direct homage to the Eames’ film, recreating the zooming in and out on the...

Archinect's comparison of gorgeous yet pragmatic chair design

2015-09-09T17:45:00-04:00

As with any great architecture, furniture design is a nimble synthesis of form and function. In the case of chairs, some designers have artfully combined both to create visually striking objects that are actually comfortable to sit and work in. The Eames line of chairs has of course received considerable acclaim, not only for their sleek design, but their relative hardiness. College dorm, office conference center, plush living room; the Eames chair can handle it, and look good while doing so. Similarly, Heatherwick Studio's ubiquitous spun chairs have become something of a pop culture phenomenon, partially because they not only spin the person sitting within them a full 360 degrees, but also tilt that person almost completely upside down:

When not in use, the chairs also can be placed sitting straight up on their small rounded base, or left positioned at a slight angle without rolling away. They are pragmatic primarily because they are so well-engineered: indoor, outdoor, wherever, t...

Susan S. Szenasy on the Importance of Design in the Everyday

2015-04-27T19:19:00-04:00

Inside the soon-to-be-demolished A+D Museum in Los Angeles, a small group gathered last week for a conversation with Susan S. Szenasy, the Editor-in-Chief of Metropolis Magazine, followed by a signing of her new book of collected writings, Szenasy, Design Advocate. The talk is likely the last the museum will host in its Miracle Mile location, as the museum prepares to move to a new home in the Downtown Arts District following the expropriation of the current building to make room for an extension of the Metro Red Line. Moderated by architecture writer and curator Greg Goldin (whose previous “Never Built: Los Angeles” exhibition was on show at the A+D in 2013), the conversation focused on the personal relationships we have with design in everyday life.

“I was always railing against the idea that people were never talked about in architecture,” Szenasy recalled of her formative years at Interior magazine. “Designers reflect us back to ourselves,” she added a bit later. “They have a hug...

Edwin Heathcote compares the Schröder House and Eames House

2013-04-08T19:33:00-04:00

Unlike Rietveld’s complex interplay of layered planes, the Eameses, looking towards more commercial approaches to middle-class housing, created something more like the box that Rietveld was trying to escape.

Straight outta Hamptons: hip-hop's architectural roots

2012-08-01T13:47:00-04:00

Given the hip-hop elite's affiliation with prestige brands – from Cristal to Courvoisier, from Louis Vuitton to Lamborghini – you'd think they'd be similarly discerning when it comes to architecture. But that's not always the case, especially when it comes to the biggest stars of all.

An Eames Chair Makeover for Charity

2012-03-19T19:14:00-04:00

Presented with an Eames molded plastic chair, 30 San Antonio based designers and architects transformed the modern icon into a canvas for art.

Charles and Ray Eames Explain the Computer Revolution

2011-12-21T11:46:00-05:00

Charles and Ray Eames, designers of the classic Eames lounge chair and major contributors to 20th century architecture and furniture designs, also dabbled in the mediums of film and animation. The Information Machine, sponsored by IBM, attempted to explain how and why the computer revolution was occurring and how it benefited regular people who, at that time, may not have ever even seen one in person.

It's Ray Eames Birthday today too!

2011-12-15T13:51:00-05:00

As Cube would say, "today was a good day". Not only does Oscar Niemeyer turn an astounding 104 years old today, but the late/great Ray Eames was also born 99 years ago today. Somebody get my credit card, I need to buy some candles.

Ice Cube Is in the House!

2011-12-08T12:26:08-05:00

In the late ’80s, before he became famous as a member of the Compton, Calif., gangsta-rap group N.W.A., Ice Cube studied architectural drafting at a trade school in Arizona. This biographical detail makes the rapper’s appearance in a new video celebrating midcentury design icons Charles and Ray Eames only slightly less incongruous.

Ice Cube Celebrates The Eames

2011-12-07T19:52:00-05:00

The Eames made structure and nature one. This is going green 1949 style, bitch. Believe that.

Ice Cube drives Inglewood blvd. describing the Los Angeles that he knows. He talks of landmarks like The Forum, Five Torches, Cockatoo Inn, Brolly Hut, and Watts Towers. He refers to the 110 as "Gangsta Highway". Cube says coming from South Central LA teaches you how to be resourceful. The video cuts to Cube walking the Eames House perimeter, through the Eames living room, and sitting in the Eames lounge chair. He brings us back to his NWA years when he studied architectural drafting before launching his rap career. One thing he learned that translates is to always have a plan. Cube describes the modern, green and resourceful building design of Charles and Ray Eames. Visionaries of connecting nature and structure. Cube ends by saying "Who are these people who got a problem with LA? Maybe they mad cuz they don't live here."

‘Eames - The Architect and the Painter’ - Review

2011-11-18T00:29:00-05:00

...the most gratifying thing about “Eames” is that it shows, in marvelous detail, how their work was an extension of themselves and how their distinct personalities melded into a unique and protean force. The film is also appropriately busy and abundant: full of objects, information, stories and people, organized with hectic elegance.

Los Angeles is gaining a sense of history

2011-11-12T20:32:04-05:00

All over Los Angeles, the places where artists, architects and engineers were busy in the postwar years inventing the future are being recast as monuments and historical shrines. This new attitude toward the city's recent heritage can be seen in increasingly visible battles over the fate of postwar landmarks like Richard Neutra's Kronish House in Beverly Hills and in nascent efforts to preserve and display artifacts from the early years of the computer and aerospace industries in Los Angeles.

Ice Cube Celebrates Ray & Charles Eames

2011-09-21T12:21:00-04:00

This ad for mega-exhibition Pacific Standard Time has been floating around for a few days and the bad news is it's not an actual campaign image. The good news is that Ice Cube's celebration of Ray and Charles Eames is totally real. A rep for PST tells us this ad is "an unapproved rough concept" that was leaked, but she adds that "The ads for the campaign featuring Ice Cube and Eames will be released in the coming weeks."

Gotta love LA.

USPS to offer Eames in 2008

2008-01-10T10:30:00-05:00

A collection of Eames stamps will be among the new stamps that the USPS will be offering this year. Gallery

In recognition of their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, manufacturing and photographic arts, designers Charles and Ray Eames will be honored next summer with a pane of 16 stamps designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC. If you’ve ever sat in a stackable molded chair, you’ve experienced their creativity. Perhaps best known for their furniture, the Eameses were husband and wife as well as design partners. Their extraordinary body of creative work — which reflected the nation’s youthful and inventive outlook after World War II — also included architecture, films and exhibits. Without abandoning tradition, Charles and Ray Eames used new materials and technology to create high-quality products that addressed everyday problems and made modern design available to the American public.