682 Lounge Chair with Arms

Eames Aluminum Group model 682, the lounge chair with arms, can be thought of as a snapshot that at once captures the collection’s early identity as outdoor lounge furniture and presages its later transformation into a workplace classic. The silhouette of the lounge chair situates the sitter at an angle somewhere between fully upright and reclined. While this angle could facilitate poolside reading, it also conjures an executive leaning back in a chair while taking meetings with clients. Additionally, one can imagine the chair’s armrests helping a sitter to prop up a magazine, or supporting a typist’s elbows. In either case, the lightweight nature of the design would have been a desirable attribute, as would its durable and easy-to-clean fabric. And though the Eameses may not have had both of these settings—home and office— in mind from the project’s beginnings, both had clearly been identified by the time manufacturer Herman Miller was marketing the designs. This is indicated by the claim in the collection’s 1959 brochure that, “These lightweight chairs are versatile and rugged enough to serve handsomely indoors or outdoors, in the home, in the office, lobby, or reception area.”