The Eames Chair is one of the most iconic chairs of furniture history. The Eames chair has been included as a permanent fixture at New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. It was first launched in 1956 by Charles and Ray Eames of the Herman Miller Furniture company. It was targeted towards affluent people who had money to spend. The chair took several years to develop and is constructed of moulded plywood and leather.
Charles and Ray Eames worked hard to make the chair usable as well as stylish. There have been many chairs that have been designed that look very stylish but have ignored the essential element of a chair that it should be usable and offer comfort. Although it became an iconic part of furniture history it has been noted that Charles Eames was not completely happy with the design. In a letter to his brother he remarked the chair looked 'comfortable but un-designy.
The chair is made from three curved plywood shells. In modern production the shells are made up of seven thin layers of wood veneer glued together and shaped under heat and pressure. This differentiates the newer chairs from the "original" (vintage) chairs which used Brazilian rosewood veneers and were constructed of five layers of plywood.
The Eames Lounge Chair first was seen on television in America in 1956 on a NBC show called 'Home' by Arlene Francis. This was backed up by an advertising campaign by the Eamses that promoted the versatility of the chair. It has also been metioned that several adverts were lauched warning people to watch out for fakes or rip offs of the chair.
The chair has appeared regularly in various houses in the Grand Designs Show in the UK and is often referred to in US comedy show Frasier.
From initial production, the chair was an instant hit and has been in production ever since by Herman Miller in America. Later, Vitra (in cooperation with the German furniture company Fritz Becker KG) began producing the chair for the European market. After its release a lot of variations of the chair flooded the market influenced by the style and popularity. In recent years there have been a lot of direct copies from Chinese and European companies. Although Herman Miller and Vitra are the only companies that produce the chair with Eames name proudly attached.
