Finding The Eames Part 1

Recently, I've found or re-found info on the Eames that I'd either never known about, never taken the time to look into, or just plain forgotten about. This is something that I'm happy about and I'll explain why.

As far as Mid-Century Designers go, the Eames' are definitely a pair that come up quickly in a conversation. However, while I appreciate them a lot, I just never have been fanatical about them. Granted, they have cool works, and the lounge chair is probably one of, if not the most, recognizable icon of MCM furniture. Still, though, I never knew enough about them to get a full scope of who they were.

Recently though, that has been changing. Why, you may ask? Well... there are few different reasons.

While their works (at least the most popular ones) are seen on almost every mid-century site and blog, it seemed that the same handful of designs always showed up. Along with that, it seemed (to me) that very little was every really explained about them in a way that expressed their quirks and personality.

To that end, it's only been recently, that I've come to appreciate them a bit more, Not as just the people who designed this or that, but the people who looked for "the way it should be-ness" in their designs. People who where artist. Ones that where so interested in design and it's effect on life, that they studied nature to better the relation between humans an objects. Those are the things that I find interesting.

So, how did this change for me? First, was an article that I found on google books. This article comes from Life Mag Spep.11, 1950. While the article is short, I get a little bit more of a feeling about Charles Eames, and the importance of friends and design in his life. Plus, the way I read it, it seems that the article writer is completely unenthusiastic about this assignment, and understands the Eame's artistic qualities even less. For some reason, I appreciate that difference.

Another piece that helped me see a bit more about the importance of design is the video that I recently found online about the aluminum chair group. It talks about how the chairs came about, and how detailed the Eames' where in designing a producing these chairs.

All of this has helped me to appreciate the Eames' a good bit more. While I've never met them, I feel that people should be appreciated for themselves, more than just the designs that they created. That's what has been happening to me.

I hope you take the time to watch the video, and read the Life article. It's possible, that you may appreciate the furniture you have for more than it's esthetic quality.

See Finding The Eames Part 2 here.

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