Eames Plastic Armchair RE RAR

The Design

If one had to select the greatest furniture design classics of all time the Eames rocker and the other plastic chairs would have to be included. Designed in 1950 by Charles and Ray Eames, the RAR and the other Eames chairs were the first collection of plastic chairs to be produced in series. The one-piece design with its anatomically formed seat shell builds the ideal bridge between exclusive aesthetics and homely charm: Design meets comfort. The Eames RAR rocking chair series features the different coloured Eames A-shells fastened to wire frame set on maple rockers. The Eames side chairs, armchairs and rocking chair RAR were created in 1948 in context of the "International Competition for Low Cost Furniture" from the MoMA New York. All the chairs in the collection are all-purpose chairs characterized by extremely high variability - they are, for example, available in a mix of bases, seat shells and colours - and are compatible for a wide range of situations ans uses, both domestic and commercial.

Thanks to their dogged and successful experiments with new materials Ray and Charles Eames created the first ever serially produced plastic chairs. Fibreglass reinforced polyester resin allowed completely new flexible forms, and in the specific case of the Eames RAR the so-called A-shell. In addition to its ease of use, the material has a pleasant feel and was also affordable for the masses. Originally all Eames Chairs were made in the USA by Herman Miller,the production in Europe and Asia only beginning once Vitra acquired the licenses in the late 1950s. In 1993 ecological considerations regarding fibreglass meant that Vitra ceased production of the Eames RAR and other plastic chairs; only resuming in the 1999 when the recyclable, yet just as malleable, material material polypropylene became available. At the same time Herman Miller also stated using polypropylene.

Charles and Ray Eames were one of the more unique teams in the history of the furniture industry. In a joint career spanning over 30 years the pair created a small universe full of beautiful things. Aside from the famous Eames furniture designs they also created a unique collection of films, photographs, graphic works, and accessories. Charles and Ray Eames met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art know where Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen were working on their preparations for the "Organic Furniture Competition" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the young art student Ray Kaiser

was appointed to assist them. A year later Charles and Ray married. Thus beginning not only a strong personal relationship, but also a very productive professional partnership as designers, architects, graphic designers. All-rounders ... In short, a trained architect and painter who studied together and created an oeuvre that revolutionised so much. Including Eames RAR and other plastic armchairs. Charles Eames died at 71 on August 21, 1978 in Los Angeles, Ray Eames exactly 10 years to the day later, aged 76 years.

Historical Context

The 1950s in the United States were, as in Europe, years of upheaval. Following the war years nations, communities and individuals sought to reorient themselves, sought new values, new principles, new rules for the new realities of the new world. In concrete terms that principle meant building new relationships to culture, consumption, production and living. The Eames furniture beautifully reflects the spirit of the young, ambitious America of the 1950s. Charles and Ray Eames developed for their plastic armchairs a new manufacturing process, a process which enabled the chairs to be mass produced and a price ??affordable for a majority of Americans . With the combination possibilities of the different bases Charles and Ray Eames created an all-purpose chair family which responded to the new requirements for flexibility and multi-functionality in furniture design. With the RAR rocking chair and the other members of their plastic chair family Charles and Ray Eames had a decisive influence on the development of modernism throughout the second half of the 20th century.

On a taxi ride through New York Willi and Erika Fehlbaum spotted a chair in a shop window. It was an Eames chair. And the beginning of a beautiful friendship. That was in 1950 and after some negotiations with the manufacturer of Eames furniture in the United States, Herman Miller, the Fehlbaum's young company Vitra acquired in 1959 licenses for the production of Eames furniture in Europe and Asia. As the only licensed manufacturer of the original Eames designs Vitra is today Ambassador of the ideas of Charles and Ray Eames. The Eames archive being entrusted to Vitra and not the Eames family or Herman Miller. But not just the Eames' furniture is important to and for Vitra, the influence of the pair remains

alive in many, subtle, ways. When, today a decisions is required, the standard Vitra approach is to ask: "What would Charles and Ray do?". In addition to the legacy of the Eames Vitra manage a vast collection of new and established design classics by the likes of, for example, George Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, Verner Panton, Antonio Citterio and Hella Jongerius. In addition, with the Vitra Campus, Vitra Design Museum and VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein Vitra are important curators of contemporary art, design and architecture.