Eames Plywood Elephant  

Pete..
If you like it just buy it! there are only (!!) a thousand in this edition arent there?. You only live once honey.

New is the new Old
While I'm a fan of the vintage pieces produced in the MCM era I can only look backwards for so long. The original elephant on tour with the 670 Exhibit is beautiful and a wonderful reminder of the possibility that existed in the material (bent plywood) - at that time. Charles and Ray were forward looking, and I doubt that they would be so fixated on their past designs today as the rest of the world seems to be. Lets not forget that every chair they produced was changed and improved upon. The fiberglass replaced the plywood, the aluminum chairs supplemented the fiberglass. All was done in an effort to keep moving forward and to explore new avenues, new materials.
Save your 1000L and instead buy a cupcake, sing a song, and wish Charles a happy birthday.

Exactly
You are so right. Just looking over this forum it becomes obvious that most of us are OBSESSED with designs from 50 years ago. And the irony is, all these designers, from Eames to Panton, looked forward, NOT backwards. I feel sorry for all those young emerging designers trying to make a living, while we're out there buying $5,000 chairs made by dead white males.

So right.
Yet the reason for the veneration of the "originals" has to be stated: they were groundbreaking designs, and they still look good and work well. It is probably difficult for many to distinguish between evolutionary developments by worthy designers, and second-, third-, and forth-generation knockoffs by imitators.
I'm willing to bet that the Eames team moved on with slight regret, knowing that the only way to survive is with "the next thing" (and having many new things to try) yet knowing too that some of their greatest inventions were already behind them ?

Stephen..
Dont go feeling sorry for ALL the emerging designers, there are those among them that are charging vast amounts of money for work, but i see your point.

Or is it?
SDR - you speak of veneration of the original designs because they were groundbreaking, a fact I cannot deny. But could it also be that we look back at them today, in a world dripping with irony and gimmicks, and recognize the honesty and forthrightness of the designs?
Rarely is it mentioned that the Eames pursued monetary gain. Of course that element must have existed in their work, but the focus is always put on the solution to the problem at hand; furniture, films, exhibitions, architecture. The iterations they made seem driven towards the best possible solution - not the most financially expedient one. History has proven that their designs, while intended for inexpensive production, rarely met that goal.
Instead what we have now are symbols of a thought process. When I look at my chairs I'm not only looking at the beauty of them, but reminding myself of a method of action towards which I strive in my own work.
I think this holds true for many of the great MCM designers - we like their furniture because it reminds us of the revolutionary nature of their work. I think very few designers today are creating in ways that are scant more than clever use of materials, or witty (and sometimes not) social commentary.
In essence that is my issue with spending 2k USD on a plywood elephant. If Vitra wanted to really celebrate Charles' birthday why not release the Elephant nationwide? Create a product as wholesome today as our sentimental yearnings believe it was then. Rather they have mangled a brilliant little childs toy into a marketing ploy.
Do you need more than the House of Cards to be reminded of the brilliance of the Eames?

For his 100th birthday...
To celebrate Charles Eames 100th birthday, Herman Miller will probably raise prices. Why does Vitra remake original Herman Miller designs and Herman Miller not(Nelson Daybed, Eames child furniture, Nelson tray table, Coconut chair, ect..).

look to the future
I was very close friends with the late great Australian modernist architect, Harry Seidler and we spoke often about this subject. Harry always looked to the future, to the NEXT project. He was quite reluctant to dwell on his previous work. And yet here we all are, still pontificating over 50 year designs. One can be damn sure that Eames would have found this amusing as he like Seidler was a forward thinking individual. Heck, that's the whole philosophy of modernism...using the most advanced materials and the most advanced solutions to solve problems. If, as most of us believe that design reached its zenith in 1958, why would anybody bother with becoming a designer today?

I agree with the limited run...
I agree with the limited run and high price seem kind of at odds with the Eames “way” As stated it would be more in keeping to put the item on general release and at a price that was more affordable so everybody could enjoy it
My interest comes from seeing the piece in books many times and always admiring and it seems that this me be the only opportunity to purchase it, although it would be a big outlay I am sure I would enjoy the item every day for many years to come
pete

Dear Stephen...
As a keen observer of the culture of our time, you must have noticed that in design, very much like in contemporary art the "Artefact" alone is not considered the same thing as the "artifact+narrative" In that sense the new edition of the Eames elefant is not the elefant you and I have known and admired each time it comes up in a publication. Now it is "the" elefant of de Eames' (the ignorant is implicitly encouraged to read the books) and it is a "limited" edition for the 100th anniversery, a quality that the new owner is going to point out to anyone that pays attention to his or her new piece(not intended for the children's room by the way). With the kind help of Vitra he or she will be able to show a bronze plaque that confirms both the Eames' story and the limited edition. So, this is not a reproduction it is actually a new product, a product grown out of sophisticated 21st century marketing knowledge, skill and opportunism. Technologically it might have some roots in the fyfties but culturally it does not fit anymore in mid century North America. In fact mid century north america did see it for what it was, an experiment, grown out of the playful creativity of people that were able to and wanted to develop the technology of bend plywood. Unfortunately that is history....by the way I am sure that for an extra $500 you can get one with a certificat stating that Dimitreos Eames has sat on it.

the elephant doesn't look...
the elephant doesn't look right to me.

Right you are Koen
Yes I see your point Koen, and you are spot on.
By the way, I met and interviewed Eames Demetrios when he was in Sydney last year. He's a very handsome, charismatic individual. I've spoken to him since on the telephone (I did a feature piece on the Eames House in Pacific Pallisades).
anyway, Eames has invited me to his own house (near Pacific Pallisades). I can't wait. Apparently he has a row of his grandfather's famous airline seats on the front porch. I envisage us sitting out there drinking gin and tonics and listening to his many stories about Charles. Ahh, sometimes I do like being a hack.

and another thing
Eames Demetrios named those airline seats as one of his favourite Eames designs and one of the most underated and less recognisable.

Hi Whitespike...
You have excellent eyes and memory....and I habve the advantage of having been around for some time...the front of the original was narrower than this edition and there was something with the curve of the cut out under the eye that reminded me of the negative form of the tusks (is that the right word?) In this new edition it is not curved forward and does not look like the beginning of the tusks. But I am not as sure about that as about the narrower trunk. Was there also a more complicated bend pattern in the ears?