Designers Charles and Ray Eames were distinguished for their sense of playfulness and their willingness to think creatively, with a degree of peculiarity. Let’s take their lounge chair and ottoman as examples. When they were first shown to the world, they shocked every single pair of eyes. Indeed they were something people had never seen before.
For Charles and Ray, it all began in the 1940s, when they were playing with plywood. They discovered new ways to mould the material with heat and pressure, which led to their development of plywood splints, glider shells, and other material used successfully by the U.S. Navy in World War II. When the war was over, Charles and Ray played with their imagination to make furniture using the same methods they had used to make splints for the Navy. The techniques they developed for making their Molded Plywood Chairs were combined with handcrafting techniques to make the lounge and ottoman.
They proved that there is no limit to one’s imagination. Add to this courage and the desire to dare for the atypical, and different elements and purposes can become fused together, creating a completely new concept to be embraced and cherished by all.
For Charles, it was important for the chair to strike people with a “warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman’s mitt”. His goal was to rescue people from their stressful lives, making the chair “a special refuge from the strains of modern living”. Charles had a vision, and he knew what people would love to have, claiming: “people still want to relax into that soft, luxurious mitt”.
The chair and ottoman were originally made with Brazilian rosewood, but due to its endangered nature and non-sustainability, they are now made with santos palisander, a sustainable alternative. All four veneers available for the chair and ottoman are now obtained from sustainably managed forests. The change of wood is a sign of the concern Charles and Ray have for a more environmentally friendly world within the world of design.
A new premium leather provides much of the softness and “sink-into-it-ness” of the original, along with durability and colour-fastness. The oiled finishes, while requiring periodic maintenance, produce the rich, lustrous look of the original veneers. It’s indeed amazing how Charles and Ray have jumped from one level of completely unbeatable design to another. With their boundless imagination and fearlessness in combining various ingredients, they have created a modern piece of furniture that calls us to take some time off, sit back, and enjoy a warm, soft, comfortable moment in time. Let’s all start today.
