The Eames Aluminum Group

With this brochure, manufacturer Herman Miller rechristened what had originally been called the “Indoor-Outdoor Group” as the “Eames Aluminum Group.” Released a year after the collection was first announced, this updated brochure reflects a shift in focus for the collection’s promotion. Although a half-page photograph of the furniture arranged around an outdoor pool is found inside, the brochure’s cover and interior copy display a greater emphasis on the pieces’ innovative construction and appearance; the design is celebrated as “fresh,” “original,” and “elegant.” On the cover, the curving silhouette of the armless lounge chair takes center stage. Interestingly, the frame itself is depicted as a negative space. Its curving white line appears to cradle a black mass pressing down from above, while a bright red-orange background pops from below. The headline—“the Eames Aluminum Group by Herman Miller”— bisects the vertical column of the chair’s base in a manner that creates a stable counterpoint to the dynamic tilted sweep of the chair’s seat and back. The outline of two rounded feet perched along the page’s bottom edge offers the clearest indication that this image is, in fact, a chair, but on the whole it would be easy to initially mistake the composition for an abstract form.