The Last Decade of Eames Furniture
In their final years of furniture design, the Eameses reimagined earlier works using new materials and technology to meet the evolving needs of modern workplaces.
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Eames
Institute
“Columbia” Toy Boat
Richter’s Anchor Blocks
EC121 Adjustable Stool Swivel with 1730 Arm Shell
Untitled, 1935–1936
Eames House Anniversary Table
Fashion Drawing: Black Pleated Day Dress
Plaque from 1964 New York World’s Fair
Seat Cover Prototype
626NS-1 Drafting Chair
PSCA-36 Secretarial Adjustable Side Shell Prototype
Cast Armrest 2
Child’s Chair
Carved Spreader 3
Steinberg Galerie Maeght Poster (1953)
“Compliments of Evans Products Co.” Postcard
Eames Soft Pad Armchair on Drafting Chair Base Prototype
Prototype Lounge Chair Spider Casting Mold
Untitled, 1934–1935
LKR-1 Upholstered Wire Chair
Study for Plyformed Wood Company Logo
ES106 Eames Chaise
Lucia Eames Photomontage
Cast Spreader 3
Unique Silver LTR (Strut Table)
Le Cirque Board Game
EC176 Loose Cushion Armchair (Glides)
Japanese Top
ES101 Intermediate Chair
Diploma for Charles Eames
DTM-20 (Dining Table Metal)
EC428 Operational Stool
EC178 Office Seating Prototype
DSS Stacking Side Chair
Café Table
EA422 Tilt-Swivel Reclining Lounge Chair (with Casters)
“Chairs Designed by Charles Eames” Postcard
“The Best Tree Tea” Illustration
Airplane Rudder Skin
Fiberglass Side Shell
Study for Leg Splint Sculpture
“A St. Louisan’s Mexican Diary—in Water Colors”,
House of Cards Mock-up Process (Diamond Cards)
ES108 Eames Sofa
DKR-1 “C” Upholstered Wire Chair
670 Lounge Chair
RKR-1 Upholstered Rocking Chair
“The City,” Flair Magazine
American Abstract Artists Exhibition Catalog, 1939
Fiberglass Side Shell
Fiberglass Side Shell
Walnut Stool, 413
“The Unembarrassed Mind,” Vogue Magazine
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Clippings
White Horse Mask
Swiss Top
DSS-1 Stacking Side Chair
Fiberglass Side Shell
Fiberglass Armchair with Steinberg Nude
Airplane Pilot’s Seat
CTM (Coffee Table Metal)
The Eames Collection contains more than 40,000 objects spanning the expansive creative practice of Ray and Charles Eames. Drawn largely from the Eames Office at 901 Washington Boulevard in Venice, California, the holdings—which the Eames family asked the Institute to safeguard—include one-of-a-kind design prototype parts and pieces, early examples of their iconic furniture, extensive photographs, correspondence, tools, ephemera, and personal artifacts collected over decades of experimentation, travel, and collaboration. Together, these materials provide the world’s most intimate view into the Eameses’ work, which shaped, and continue to shape, modern design across furniture, architecture, exhibition design, film, and visual communications.
The Collection exists today because Lucia Eames as the owner and Llisa Demetrios as registrar spent decades caring for and archiving the materials that remained outside institutional archives. Believing Ray and Charles’s iterative process to be as important as their finished work, incredible care has been put into accounting for virtually every piece of material at the closure of the Eames Office in Venice, California. Today, the Eames Institute stewards the Collection through ongoing cataloging, preservation, research, and public engagement, ensuring that this remarkable archive is accessible to current and future generations at the Eames Archives, Eames Ranch, and the Institute’s forthcoming museum, as well as through loans to peer institutions.
In their final years of furniture design, the Eameses reimagined earlier works using new materials and technology to meet the evolving needs of modern workplaces.
The Eameses’ eclectic collection of toys goes beyond fun and games, it also offers a window into the couple’s singular approach to design.
In the summer of 1950, the artist Saul Steinberg spent a day at play within the Office of Charles and Ray Eames resulting in an iconic collaboration.
Eames chairs have always stolen the spotlight, but an adjacent thirty-year legacy of table designs demonstrates the designers’ same thoughtful approach to problem-solving.
From scraps and scribbles to maquettes and models, the Eames Collection contains countless examples that illustrate Ray Eames’s unique working methods and iconic collaborations.
The Eames Aluminum Group originated as outdoor furniture for a specific architectural commission, but has subsequently become one of the most recognizable and successful Eames designs.
From promotional tools created by the Eameses, to communication devices from a bygone era, postcards offer a unique window into Ray and Charles’s world.
The Eameses’ quest to create a comfortable and affordable shell chair from a single material led to two iconic designs—and limitless permutations.
As World War II raged overseas, Ray and Charles turned their practice toward the war effort, and in the process learned lessons that set the stage for a life in design.
By the time Ray Kaiser met Charles Eames in 1940 each had led remarkable lives marked by restless curiosity and creative pursuits.