How to not remove paint on back of a Fiberglass Eames Shell  

why not sand?
Solvent on a already dry paint, and since long time ago will barely work. Stronger product will affect the quality of the gelcoat.
Why not use the a good sanding paper, or even better, a light sandblast that you can rent at a local rent-a-tool store.
I have 6 Sarinen chair and a tulip table that I want to refresh this summer. They where painted over by the previous owner. I will try the sandblast option. This is the technique used by thousand of fiberglass boats owner.
If your not comfortable with it, you can also go to the coachbuilder, you'll also get a pro paint job.
Are anybody here already tried this method?

Sand
Yes, I have sanded off the factory greige paint before. Obviously, you will need to apply a gel coat or other finish afterward.

Soy-gel
I tried out the Soy-gel paint stripper on my Eames fibreglass chairs. The previous owner had spray painted them professionally with 2 layers of paint. To my big surprise the paint stripper did absolutely nothing to the paint. There was no reaction at all. I actually got it shipped of from US to Norway just because I heard so much great stuff about this product. Any clues on why it didn?t work?
BTW I followed the instructions (-:
Lars

how long did you leave the...
how long did you leave the soy gel on the paint? Did you use a bristle brush to help remove the paint?
Do you know what kind of paint was used by the previous owner? latex, acrylic? -

Soy-gel
I have no idea what kind of paint he used on these shells, but it looks a lot like something you would paint your car with. Anyway, I left a good portion of the stuff on the chair for about 15 min, and there was still no reaction. If anything, the paint looked a bit shinier after the treatment, so it was not all bad.

Wow...
maybe it was some kind of car paint. Sorry it didn't work. It work great for me when i removed spray can paint from several shells.

Just adding my $0.02 in case...
Just adding my $0.02 in case anyone else stumbled upon this thread while googling this issue. I myself had great success with stripping a painted Paul McCobb Origami Fiberglass Chair with Citrustrip. It lifted the paint right off of the surface and did not damage to the material.

Greige alkyd enamel removal?
I have 4 side shells and 2 arm shells with removable covers. Unfortunately the back is painted. It's been a while since I started this thread but has anyone found an easy way to remove the enamel paint? I'm going to simply start sanding away soooooooon!
Plus I haven't removed the covers yet. I feel like I'm on the Price Is Right or something. There could me a kelly green below:)

sanding...
I've sanded about a dozen 'greige backs' with great results. I use a Mouse sander and the finest grit paper pads, takes about an hour and then recoated them. Im very pleased with how easy it is and how great they look when finished!

sand. start with 600 grit. ...
sand. start with 600 grit. worked well with me. corvette guys would know more about this by working on their cars.

I have been using...
I have been using marine-grade fiberglass stripper on my side chairs to remove upholstery foam. Worked like a charm. Didn't touch the fiberglass at ll.
I bet that stuff does the same with your paint, unless it's a 2K paintsystem (like carpaint).