Herman Miller Lounge Chair and Ottoman Eames  

I believe....
I believe that Herman Miller discovered a better, longer lasting foam product in the 1970's or very early 1980's, and apparently, their foam filled furniture does not stiffen and turn to dust like the lousy latex foam did from the 1950's.
My late friend owned a, Alexander Girard lounge suite (arm-down sofa, three side tables and matching arm-down chair) which he bought off of the closing Braniff ticket office in Minneapolis back in the early 1970's.
All of the latex was hard as a rock and powder was sifting through the bottom of the marvelous Girard fabric.
Apparently, currently made Herman Miller foam filled chairs and sofa do not do this.....

TiredbutHappy
I'm not sure exactly when the change occurred. But if you can get a feel of the cushions the down should feel like a down-pillow: soft and yielding, almost hollow feeling, with a bit of sag. The foam should be soft, but still firmer than down, sort of like a marshmallow.

I saw that we finished ...
I saw that we finished one this afternoon made in 1969 and the down was in great shape we re wrapped it like we do all of them and another one shipped out
The problem is as follows
with foam it does turn to crumble
90 percent of the time, the ones that do most often are fabric. cause fabric breathes and that is what deteriorates the foam,
2) the vinyl actually can protect some of the foams, It is the edges that get really bad but the centers seem to be o.k.
3) Judgeing from all the lounge chairs that have been at our shop , I think Miller changed the seating on the lounge chairs around 1980's and used poly foam wrap.

What should i do
Thanks for this, so if seems that the change to foam might have been in the 1970s. what should i do? My problem is that i want a down one , i thought the 1970s chairs wouls be down so when i saw a 1970s chair with the 'fibre fill as plump as the day it was made' i thought that would be natural fibre -down.
the seller tells me its a foam chair so I am guessing that there must be some snythetic fibre wrap around the foam thats 'as plump as the day it was made' . i feel obliged to follow through but at $6000 dollars its a lot for something i don't want. Had the auction mentioned foam i would have passed. I am a fair person - what do you guys think?

tiredbuthappy
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tiredbuthappy
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Tell her to take that 6000 lounge chair
and cram it that is way to much money for a old chair that does not have that much value!!!!
I am the first to admit i do not know every thing but one thing i do know is the Eames lounge chair and if you want the down you can have that replaced
that is no big deal , they do come poly foam wrapped
but tell that person to take that 6000 chair and cramit

$6000 is too much for any...
$6000 is too much for any Eames Lounge/Ottoman unless it's stuffed with $20 bills. You should be able to get a very nice Rosewood example from the 60s or 70s with down for $3000-$4000 from a reputable seller. If you get really lucky, you could haunt craigslist for months and score one for a song.
fm

thanks everyone
I am in the UK and the auction was on ebay in the US, it was billed as 1970s chair and ottomon that has been kept by the owner as a piece of art so was effectively new. I had assumed from its age and the description 'its fibre filling is as plump as the day its was made' that it was down. If turned out to be foam.
Had it been down i would have paid , you only live once, and an old chair in as new condition would have outlived me. Being foam and at least 25 years old it would probably start to deteriorate from the moment I used it. Anyway seller has accepted it wasnt what i was after and i am off the hook.
I have an early rosewood shell at the moment but my leather is very worn so what i really need is some vintage but perfect cushions. so if you are throwing some out call me!

I've heard good things about...
I've heard good things about Graham Mancha in the UK...I believe he will do a full restoration of your cushions. I'm not sure if he reuses down or not. In the US, Alfie at Hume Modern redoes them. He uses new fiberboard backs and all new down, so basically, you're getting brand new cushions. They are pricey, but not nearly as pricey as a mint condition vintage Eames lounge.
fm

we recover a Herman Miller...
we recover a Herman Miller lounge chair at least 1 every 10 days mostly in black leather
and I hate to say it, it is really no big deal
If you want down fil you can get down
What we do for the price is new zippers, new leather, and we reuse the plastic backs,
but most of the time we use the original foam providing it has not mealed and a new poly wrap,
but a lot of time it must all be replaced,
This is not a solicitation or looking for business as we have plenty,

Want a super clean Eames lounge?
Want a super clean Eames lounge? We have a great vintage example in rosewood with ambassador leather and down-filled cushions. The leather is in great shape, the rosewood is gorgeous, and we have it priced much less than $6000.
Just so you know, the 670/ 671 were originally made exclusively with down filled cushions. At some point in the '70s. They started using the foam filling while still offering the down filling as an upgrade. Not sure when that stopped, but I've never seen a set produced in the 1980s with either down filling or the upgraded "ambassador" leather. Also, you know the difference in the cushion clips: Pre-1971 they are round and just 2 per cushion, post 1971, they are rectangular and 3 per cushion.
http://www.pegboardmodern.com

can anyone recommend a good book
pegboardmodern - can i have an email address?
Can anyone recommend a book that will help me date eames furniture by constuction detail and label style. I appreciate it if a full understanding comes from many books and personal research but can anyone recommend a good starting point.
I am now even more confused about my lounge chair and ottomon. I was assured my one was early so I was expecting down and when I peeked inside the ottoman sure enough there was down.
I have enquired about another one for sale and the seller says the labels inside the ottoman say 75% latex rubber, 25% grey duck down and feather. Inside the chair its 50% latex rubber. 50% grey duck and feather. If these are original when should they date from because the seller says its an early chair.Does foam/down mix come between down and foam? Or are all (later) foam ones topped with down?
On hearing that I stripped open the ottoman on mine and sure enough underneath the down was a thick pillow of foam. So if original is my chair not as old as I though too?

According to the "The Eames...
According to the "The Eames Lounge Chair: an Icon of Modern Design", the clips that hold the cushions on were switched from the 2 round clips to the 5 fasteners (3 clips and 2 snaps) in 1960. In 1979, the all-down cushions were replaced with cushions containing a combination of down and urethane foam. Later, the down was taken out completely in favor of urethane foam wrapped in in polyester fiberfill.
In a footnote, it cites that this info came from an internal document from the Herman Miller archives entitled "Archives and Records Answers to Frequently Asked Questions: Eames Executive Seating and Lounge Seating," March 29, 2004.
So it would appear that your chair was made after 1979. Or it's possible that you have non-original cushions. Do you have the 2 round clips or the 3 rectangular clips?
It would be interesting to see if anyone can get a copy of this article directly from HM. I sent a note to them...let's see how it goes.
fm

clips
so far i have checked the ottoman and the two back cushions, has trouble getting the seat cushion up and didnt want to force it.
all are the same two round discs with a protruding peg on which to hang the cushion and two round poppers. That doesnt sound like anything i have read here!
interesting that the change in seat attachment method is dated at both 1960 and 1971 within this thread , no wonder i am confused.
if anyone can tell me how to upload iamges from my Apple computer to help i will gladly learn

The old style clips are the...
The old style clips are the round ones with the 2 poppers on the top and bottom of the cushion, just as you describe. When describing the clip styles, I paraphrased from the book I took it out of, which derived the data from the HM archives. Now, whether it was misinterpreted from the archive documents, I don't know...that's why I have sent mail to HM...I'm hoping to see those documents for myself.
I'm assuming that those clips on your chair are original and not replacements from another chair. It's common to take good cushions from another chair (usually one where the shock mounts have failed) and put them on a good shell. I have a '59 chair with rectangular clips because the cushions are from a later chair. The original cushions had been poorly redone by the original owner and I lucked into another chair with great cushions but a broken seat.
On the bottom of the chair, is the HM logo in a round circle or is it rectangular? If it's round, the clips are appropriate for that shell. Also, I've found on my early chair that both sides of the shells are finished, but on the later 70s chair, the wood wasn't finished on the inside of the shells. The older chair also had a thicker shell than the newer one. How does yours compare?
fm