Eames Plastic Side Chair RE DSR

Design Story

The Design

With the development of new production process and the use of new materials Charles and Ray Eames revolutionised furniture history. More than once. And although these days a perfectly normal feature of living rooms and commercial spaces around the globe, at its launch the Eames Plastic Chair family was a revolutionary. Created in context of the New York Museum of Modern Art's "International Competition for Low Cost Furniture" the design, consisting of a singular piece of fibreglass reinforced polyester resin, was awarded second place. From the initial idea quickly arose a family of multi-purpose chairs in both armchair and side chair versions and with range of bases. The Vitra Eames DSR having a four-legged base with a delicate wire base which beautifully embodies Charles and Ray Eames credo of providing "the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least".

Unmistakable and versatile - the Eames Plastic Chairs

Production

Originally the Eames plastic chairs were produced in fibreglass reinforced polyester resin. A material that in the 1940s and 19590s was genuinely revolutionary as it allowed an until then unachievable combination of strength, durability and haptic elegance at an affordable price. From the earliest days of their career's the designs of Charles and Ray Eames were produced in America by Herman Miller. In the 1950s Willi and Erika Fehlbaum secured the rights to produce the products fro Europe and Asia, thus beginning the Vitra story. In 1993 increasing environmental problems and worries associated with fibreglass led Vita to stop production of the Eames plastic chairs. In 1999 however the development of new materials allowed production to be restarted using polypropylene. Polypropylene may not build the patina so characteristic of the fibreglass Eames chairs is however recyclable and less environmentally troublesome.

Designer

Maybe it was the extraordinary nature of their relationship that led Charles and Ray Eames to develop some of the most extraordinary furniture designs of the 20th century. Ray Eames was born in Sacramento, California in 1912, Charles Eames in 1907 in St. Louis, the pair met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art where Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen were preparing for the New York Museum of Modern Art's "Organic Furniture Competition" A year later the pair married and established their design studio in Los Angeles from where, in addition to furniture design the pair worked across creative genres, most notable being their film, exhibition design and photography projects. Although all Charles and Ray Eames designs are officially attributed to both, the division of labour on the projects was clearly regulated: the trained architect Charles Eames being responsible for the technical aspects, the trained artist Ray Eames the aesthetic. Charles Eames died on august 21st 1978, on the same day Ray Eames closed the Eames Design Studio and exactly ten years later on August 21st 1988 Ray Eames passed away in Los Angeles.

Manufacturer