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.
The Eames Collection
Lucia’s Lunch Box
“The Best Tree Tea” Illustration
EA423 Eames Soft Pad Ottoman
Fiberglass Side Shell
“Grand Duke” Ives Toy Train
PSC-1 Pivoting Side Chair
Toy Steam Boat
“Alarm” Toy Boat
DSS Stacking Side Chair
“Columbia” Toy Boat
“Danseurs et Charmeurs de Serpents, Djemaa el-Fna, Marrakech” Postcard
Kathputli Puppet
Child’s Stool
Special Use Table, “La Fonda” Base
“16 Animali” Enzo Mari Puzzle
Scale Study for Plyformed Wood Company Logo
Japanese Top
Untitled, 1938
Study for Plyformed Wood Company Logo
Lucia Eames Photomontage
Charles Eames Business Card for Plyformed Wood Company
ECS Graphic Study
PSCC-4
Richter’s Anchor Blocks
Fiberglass Side Shell
Bird Kite with Legs
DSX-1 Upholstered Side Chair
Photograph of Steinberg Drawing Projected onto Hedda Sterne with Glass
Paper Study for Side Shell
Steinberg Galerie Maeght Poster (1953)
LKR-2 Upholstered Wire Chair
Red Aniline CTW (Coffee Table Wood)
Chutes & Ladders/Red Riding Hood Game
Swiss Top
Three-Legged CTM (Coffee Table Metal)
“Sea Things” Tray
Mexican Top
“The Unembarrassed Mind,” Vogue Magazine
Photograph of Steinberg Drawing Projected onto Hedda Sterne Pointing Finger
La Chaise Images on Aluminum Presentation Panel
Fiberglass Side Shell
MSX-1 Upholstered Side Chair
Fiberglass Side Shell
Photograph of Young Lucia and Charles
House of Cards Mock-up Process (Box 1)
Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
DKR-2 Upholstered Wire Chair
DKR-1 “C” Upholstered Wire Chair
DSR Fiberglass Side Shell Chair
DSS Stacking Side Chair
Fashion Drawing: Yellow Day Dress with Black and Yellow Jacket
“The Collection of Molded Plywood Furniture” Brochure
EC127 Upholstered Chair
EA208 Swivel Armchair
American Abstract Artists Exhibition Catalog, 1938
EA322 Reclining Arm Chair
RKR-1 Upholstered Rocking Chair
Small Leg Splint Sculpture
House & Garden magazine, November 1946
About the Eames Collection
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.
All Exhibitions
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Toys & Play
The Eameses’ eclectic collection of toys goes beyond fun and games, it also offers a window into the couple’s singular approach to design.
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Steinberg Meets the Eameses
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.
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Tables
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.
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Ray’s Hand
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.
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Eames Aluminum Group
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.
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Postcards
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.
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Shell Chairs
The Eameses’ quest to create a comfortable and affordable shell chair from a single material led to two iconic designs—and limitless permutations.
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Experiments in Plywood
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.
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Before They Were the Eameses
By the time Ray Kaiser met Charles Eames in 1940 each had led remarkable lives marked by restless curiosity and creative pursuits.
