Charles Eames, Ray Eames - Vitra - Armchair - EA 117

The Aluminum Chair is one of the most significant creations of the 20th century in terms of furniture. It was originally born for a private house in Columbus (Indiana, USA) , built by architects Eero Saarinen and Alexander Girard in the mid-1950s. Charles and Ray Eames chose a new approach to the structure of the chair. Instead of using the then widespread principle of the shell, they placed a cloth or leather sheet between two aluminum sides, leaving it taut, but with a cushioning effect. The towel adapts to the body and offers high comfort even without sophisticated padding. The shape of the Aluminum Chair is clean and transparent, the structure clearly visible. The model presented in this auction is of ICF production around 2012. The chair was taken over from a meeting room of an important photographic studio in Padua (Veneto) where it was used very little. The structure is in polished aluminum and the upholstery in black Hopsak fabric. Since the chair has been little used, it is in very good conditions of use. There are only very slight signs of aging The gas lift system of the seat is functional, as well as the tilting clutch. The free wheels active rotation. . The chair has been thoroughly cleaned, sanitized and the aluminum structure polished. Armchair dimensions: Height 83 Width51 Depth 70 "Design Radicale" offers shipping insurance for Europe. For the "rest of the world" shipment the cost is indicative. We will formulate a quote at the end of the auction according to the destination. Through the creation of authentic design icons, the experimental spirit and the continuous attention to the mediation between concept development and communication, Charles and Ray Eames have embodied at the same time the design of the twentieth century and a certain independence of the American context from European dynamics and influences. . Charles and Ray Eames married in 1942 and moved to California: he works on the sets for MGM, but soon they begin their experiments - as Plyformed Wood Company - with curved plywood for prosthetics and medical equipment, which guarantee them state funds. and advanced means of production. In the post-war years, this experimentation evolves into a season of great successes, in which the Eameses create their most iconic pieces, destined to become milestones in the history of design: exhibited at Mo. MA in 1946 in the New furniture designed by Charles and Ray Eames exhibition. , will be chosen by Herman Miller to be produced and marketed, opening a historical production collaboration still in progress. In the research phase preceding the exhibition, the prototypes developed consist of curved plywood (with a machine called Kazam!) In several separate pieces, a technique that is preferred to that of the single piece for reasons of cost-effectiveness of maintenance and versatility: the DCW appears (Dining Chair Wood) , the LCW (Lounge Chair Wood) and the LCM (Lounge Chair Metal) . The following steps saw the integration of new materials and techniques, in particular the printable plastics, or the glass fiber of the one-piece armchair with crossed metal feet (1948) , or La chaise (1949) which, however, went into production only in 1990. Metal, its combinability with other materials and in spatial structures is another point of great importance in this research, as demonstrated by the combinations with wood of the Eames Storage Units (1950) and the LTR Low Table Rod Base, or the plasticity of the net. metal that structures the Bikini chairs (1953-56) . After a decade of studies, in 1956 the definitive version of the Lounge Chair and Ottoman will be presented, a design icon and the only exception to the Eames philosophy of "maximum quality at the lowest price", with its metal and rosewood structure and leather upholstery. . Charles and Ray Eames also developed architecture, and at the origin of their most famous construction, the Eames House (1945-49) , there is the collaboration with the magazine Arts & Architecture and its director John Entenza. He launched the Case Study House Program in 1945, involving big names in the architecture of the time in the development of housing prototypes in Santa Monica (California) . Case Study House # 8, designed with Eero Sarinen, is the Eames House, and extends the principles of its designers and residents to a building scale: "wanting to obtain the maximum volume with the minimum of materials", the steel profiles arrangement for the realization are organized in a neutral grid in which glass infill panels or panels of different colors are then combined, according to Ray's design, “the inevitable result of organic design”, as she herself defines them. The result is the coupling of a residential volume with one used as a studio, perfectly modern and at the same time integrated into the nature of their site. The design concept of the Eames is vast, and also covers the fields of education and communication. It is expressed in games, such as the House of Cards (1952) , The Toy (1950) , the Revell Toy House in full Eames-style (1959, not commercialized) . It also passes through the creation of shows and exhibitions, in which the popular spirit of many of their creations is realized, such as the Mathematica exhibition (1961) , or the many collaborations with IBM for films, editions and exhibition pavilions (over 50 projects) . Films are one of the most fertile grounds in the production of the two designers: between 1950 and 1978 Charles and Ray Eames made over 100 films - "attempts to convey an idea" as they define them - of different subject and duration: from The information Machine (1957) for IBM, which extends A communication primer (1953) - a film that explains the functioning of computers and which had prompted IBM to start a long collaboration with designers - up to Banana Leaf (1972) on the value of objects in the diversity of social classes and the famous Powers of Ten: A film dealing with the Relative Size of things in the universe and the effect of Adding Another Zero (1977) , scientific exploration of the relative measure of things and the role of distance in observation. Charles Eames dies in 1978, and Ray Kaiser Eames will dedicate the next ten years, until his death, to organize and disseminate their production.