Did you know that the famous TV segment with Arlene Francis introducing Charles and Ray Eames and their "new" 670/671 Lounge chair and ottoman can be seen at the Herman Miller website? I just read that it was not on "The Today Show", but it was on another morning show called "THE ARLENE FRANCIS HOME SHOW" in 1956. (My mistake) Go the link below and click on Eames' picture and click on the video link. I've never actually seen it before and it's darn cool, other than Francis treating Ray like 'the little women'. http://www2.hermanmiller.com/discoveringdesign/
Eames today show.
i picked that up about a year a go also
Ray was like a little rag doll or lap dog,
I have not read that much about Ray but have all the books on the Eames,
Anyone have any incite into this woman, I am sure Charles had a ego the size of Dallas, and especially when he was getting all kinds of great press, Once again folks he was not g-d just a icon, interesting to see if we could get some incite on poor old Ray. I have a feeling when they coined that phrase "Behind every good man there is a good woman " I bet they were talking about Ray....
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from what i read she did all the fabric design and from a person who sells fabrics for the chairs. The general comment at first when the customer sees them they feel it is very elementary, very childlike almost for a nursery,
one other thing i might a...
one other thing i might add the small dot in grey
is the number 1 fabric that i use, for some reason every one wants to put that on there bucket chairs,
I guess cause it is a total Eames look. the other top seller is this black and white Girard, followed by the stripe trio , I love them all and have made up most of them one time or another but to me Girards stuff is still the most striking,
Even with Eames' ego
I'm sure that they basically works as a team. After all, Ray designed the time life stools, and in all of the pictures I've seen, it looks like they're working together as a team in the forumlation stages.
It was just the 1950's mentality that "the little woman" was treated like "the little woman" on TV.
Come to think of it, wasn't it typical for the producers to get the "Today girl" to do the piece...after all it was just interior decoratings and no man would've been caught dead interviewing the Eames'.
It was cool to see none-the-less.
he seemed like a vary gr...
he seemed like a vary gracious, gentleman soft spoken and well versed,
He truly must have been something
I was of the era but unfountly my folks were not modern people, they liked nice traditional furniture made by Baker and Henredon,
I discovered Eames, the man around 25 years ago, I was curious with fiberglass chairs,as having them althrough college, and in HighSchool, although cheap at the time, i never bought any, His lounge chair really never meant anything to me till a few years ago,
Speaking of Eames' fabric
I won a LaFonda chair on eBay that needs reupholstery and I was lucky to score 2 1/2 yard of the Eames Crosspatch in the spring tone (Maharam) on eBay for only $25.00! Heck, it's going for $90.00 per yard. It's gonna look beautiful and I have a local guy who knows how to redo it.
Feature on Dwell TV
I recently recorded a segment featured on the Dwell television show on Charles and Ray Eames, and it was an excellent piece, done very well. They did an excellent job at presenting the duo as equals, and focusing on the two as one design/development unit, you really got a sense that each was as important and integral to their product development process. I'll see if I can't convert & upload the feature.
To answer LRF
To answer LRF's questions about Ray: First off, Ray was very much an artist, and not unknown. She worked with Lee Krasner (wife of Jackson Pollock) and studied under Hans Hoffman in NYC before going to Cranbrook where she eventually met Charles. So, while his background was architecture, design, and function, hers was art, design, color & shape, layout. While it can never be understood exactly how much each of them influenced each other during collaboration (any more than other members of the Eames Office influenced designs, i.e. Bertoia with the metal spine of the LCM/DCM) a good example is cited in Pat Kirkham's book: C&R Eames, Designers of the 20th Century. Pat points to the chair developed by Eames & Saarinen in comparison to the LCW. While both utilize the same methods of bending plywood the Eames/Saarinen prototype is clunky and graceless next to the LCW. Admittedly this could be influenced in part by the cultural familiarity of the LCW. But, if you look at Rays earlier artwork you can see the same types of forms and rhythmns appearing in the LCW that are absent in the Saarinen collaboration.
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