It’s Child’s Play

Although the Eames molded plastic chair line was introduced in 1950, sales didn't take off in a significant way until 1954, when Ray and Charles Eames created the stacking and ganging chairs known by their alphanumeric sales code designation, DSS. [Following the same convention as other Eames designs, DSS stands for Dining (height) Side (chair) Stacking (base).] The newly conceived chair base allowed up to 14 chairs to stack in the floor space of one, and the ganging feature that allowed the chairs to interlock on either side helped facilitate the creation of long tidy rows. With this adaptation orders increased tenfold as the chairs were now ideal for settings such as auditoriums, gymnasiums, and classrooms. This promotional postcard illustrates both aspects of the expanded functionality offered by the new design—albeit with some adventurous behavior that would be unsanctioned in most institutional settings.