Sorry
You're right. I had a brain fart, please excuse me. Anyway, I believe the color that everyone loves to call "salmon" is actually Red-Orange (or just plain orange) which became quite faded on these early shells over time. The original color can usually be better seen on the underside and especially along the edge.
I believe that True Red was not produced by Herman Miller until later, as a contract color.
whew...
Thanks woody. (I usually tend to assume you are correct 100% of the time, so I thought I was hallucinating or something for a minute there!)
But I will go out on a limb here and say I am pretty sure that even the early color is "red".
In person (and in online photos too) the early ones look very much like a vivid or "cherry" type red. Especially underneath, or at the edges as you mentioned. The less faded the area, the redder they are. I do agree with you that they fade to what appears to be an orangey or salmon color though. (Which I like better)
If I had to stretch, I would say "Pinky Coral" at most, but that is still not nearly orange. (It may be that the batch colors differed a bit, whatever the name. I have often expressed my belief that some intentional experimentation happened with color-- WITHIN the stated color names. This is just my opinion.
I don't think an official color with "orange" in the name was made during the first rope edge generation by Zenith.
If anything started to look more of a red-orange, I would say it was at the time of the Venice chair generation. Those Venice shells are more opaque, and not as translucent at all. Still quite salmony though.
Now I am going to be obsessed with finding that "six early colors" reference.
Thanks again.
These are the tabs I mean.
Eameshead: The only reason I know it is from 50' is I know the original owner and thats the year she purchased it.
From what I have been told and seen, the double rounded sides are in line with the first gen rocker base, that later changed to the standard Zenith RAR base.
I enclosed some photos of the LAR. The owner bought it in early 1950.
The Seamfoam RAR was from maybe 51', but not sure. ( third photo)
The only other place I saw the double rounded tabs was the first gen RAR before they changed the wire configuration.
Thanks Joshua
Yep that is the same LAR base as mine, with double rounded tabs all around. Yours looks in about the same condition as mine. Your shell is cleaner though!
Nice to know the exact year date of purchase too. If she purchased it in 1950 for sure, it was either made in that year or the year before. So whatever my shell's official color is called, the shell I have is on this same early base, which is looking pretty close to first year.
And I dunno, after googling pages of "Eames red Zenith rope shells", they mostly all look way closer to a basic color wheel red than to the orange side of red to me.
Photos always are suspect, so it would be helpful if we can find a reference to this sixth color, beyond woody's five on the order form.
I have not had time to search extensively yet, so for now we are still at the original 5 colors, and this "red" or "red orange" color from circa 1950 is still un named.
At this point I don't care if its called "red meat orange", I would still be happy to know the name.
yeah well...
...coming from one who is no stranger to relentless enthusiasm, I thank you Kin! I needed that. Sometimes (in print), I worry that I come off as sounding needlessly argumentative, so your comment is much appreciated. I am just having fun most of the time.
Hey! I actually found a reference to the "SIX original colors"-- albeit by Cara Greenberg in "Mid Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950's".
This well known book got way too much attention, and was probably aimed at the casual reader, so may not be a very reliable source for hard core information.
But for what its worth, I quote (from page 75):
"... First developed in metal, it won second prize in The Museum of Modern Art's 1948 Low Cost Furniture Design competition. For manufacture two years later, metal was replaced by a sturdier plastic. In six original Fifties fashion colors: greige, elephant-hide grey, lemon yellow, seafoam green, parchment, and red, and a choice of bases."
So if I am in error, perhaps this is where I made my assumption? I've had this book since it came out in the mid eighties. Maybe Cara Greenberg was generalizing, and the red shells came slightly after the other five, as woody's order form suggests.
Thanks Mark
Kind of three answers in one there...
So Bright Red was a color name as early as 1952 for sure, but is there any info as to whether the ones in the 1952 catalog were 1st generation rope edge chairs specifically, or 2nd generation (Venice) chairs?
It seems logical that my red rope shells would have shared that same color name a year or two earlier, but then again, if no other evidence is found on Bright Red being produced before 1952 (as woody's order form suggests), it could also possibly be an indication that the rope shells were produced into 1952 and beyond. (remember Eamesdesign website has one at 1954)
The old generalization that I tend to have in my head is 49-51 on the rope shells, and 52-54 ish for the 2nd generation Venice shells. So its really nice to be able to begin to chip away with a few facts. I don't believe the dates have to forever remain a mystery. A little cross checking and deductive reasoning, with info like yours and Joshua's could eventually lead to some very solid dates.
So glad the color name was not "Red Meat"!
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com