‘Getting the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least’: with these words, Charles and Ray Eames described one of their main goals as furniture designers.
The ingenious designs of Charles and Ray Eames have long been incorporated into our lives, whether their furniture like the Eames Plastic Chair, decorative pieces like the iconic Eames house bird or the Eamses House (Case Study House #8). Until today their creations and ideas do have a lasting influence on our modern design!
After visiting the Eames House in Pacific Palisades last year we found the documentary EAMES – the architect and the painter, a film by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey, narrated by James Franco that tries to create a complete picture of their work:
From 1941 to 1978, this husband-and-wife team brought unique talents to their partnership. He was an architect by training, she was a painter and sculptor. Together they are considered America’s most important and influential designers, whose work helped, literally, shape the second half of the 20th century and remains culturally vital and commercially popular today. They are, perhaps, best remembered for their mid-century modern furniture, built from novel materials like molded plywood, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, bent metal wire and aluminum – offering consumers beautiful, functional, yet inexpensive products. Revered for their designs and fascinating as individuals, Charles and Ray have risen to iconic status in American culture. But their influence on significant events and movements in American life – from the development of modernism, to the rise of the computer age – has been less widely understood. Charles and Ray Eames are now profiled as part of American Masters.
You can watch the documentary on iTunes or order your DVD at eamesoffice.com
More about Charles and Ray Eames here.
Images: google.com, vitra, eamesoffice.com
