Charles Eames Collection

Black and White portrait of Charles Eames with hands crossed and pencil held to his chin Charles Eames (1917-1978) and his wife Ray Eames (1912-1988) were a husband-wife unstoppable duo in the post-war design world in the United States. Born in Missouri, Charles worked with engineers and production teams growing up, but longed for something more. After Charles met Ray, a professional in textiles and patterning, Charles started experimenting with furniture. The two came up with several designs that were strikingly beautiful, sleek, sophisticated, and most importantly, modern. They used clean lines and every one of their chairs was vigorously functional. Charles worked closely with Eero Saarinen and Harry Bertoia as the head of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan (which Saarinen’s Father helped found) teaching students about his philosophies on design and furniture creation. In 1946, the Eames family was given the ability to showcase their designs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and had a special exhibit dedicated to their contributions to modernist architecture, with the famous piece as their “fiberglass resin chair”