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...

New audio documentary on Ray Eames to launch on International Women’s Day

2023-02-27T11:46:00-05:00

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation is set to launch the second season of its award-winning audio documentary series New Angle: Voice. Debuting on March 8th to coincide with International Women’s Day, the first episode in the series will explore the story of Ray Eames (1912–1988), with future episodes exploring other influential female figures in design.

The introductory episode on Ray Eames will present a history of her contributions to the arts, architecture, graphic design, textile design, and furniture innovation. The narrative will also be informed by interviews with figures spanning art history, curation, design, the Eames Foundation, and the Library of Congress.

“Our original story about Ray Eames draws on new research of her years as a painter in New York, from archival footage and audio of her media appearances as well as interviews with Eames family members and employees of Eames Office, their design studio in Venice, California,” explained Cynthia Phifer Kracauer A...

Beverly Willis Architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright foundations among National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipients

2022-08-24T17:18:00-04:00

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced a broad-ranging program of new grants that totaled $31.5 million and were awarded to 226 projects across the United States.

Included in the list are a few architectural organizations and historically significant institutions that were identified by the NEH as helping to “preserve, examine, and share the country’s rich and expansive history and culture.”

One of the biggest winners was the New York-based Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, which received a total of $100,000 outright for their exploratory podcast series titled “New Angle: Voice — Pioneering Women of American Architecture,” wherein the impact of five great women architects are explored by executive director Cynthia Phifer Kracauer in information-rich half-hour segments that garnered some 40,000 listeners by the end of the first season. The series is sponsored by Knoll and SOM and produced by award-winning director Brandi Howell. Their Media Projects ...

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...

Denver Art Museum delves into the "Serious Play" behind Mid-Century Modernism

2019-07-09T11:00:00-04:00

Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America, an exhibition currently on view at the Denver Art Museum (DAM), delves into some of the more joyful aspects of 20th Century design.

Highlighting works by Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Henry P. Glass, Herbert Bayer, Eva Zeisel, and Alexander Girard, among others, the colorful and whimsical exhibition seeks to position play as a primary "catalyst for creativity and innovation," according to a press release.

Armchair for Braniff International by Alexander Girard. Image courtesy of Wright.

The exhibition, co-organized with the Milwaukee Art Museum, is co-curated by Christoph Heinrich, director of DAM, Darrin Alfred, curator of architecture and design at DAM, and Monica Obniski, curator of 20th and 21st Century design at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Presenting over 200 design objects, including drawings, models, textiles, ceramics, playground equipment, and furniture, the exhibition argues that during the Mid-Century era, material innova...

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.

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 ...

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...

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):

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.