Charles (1907-1978) & Ray (1912-1988) Eames Biography
Charles and Ray Eames Charles (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988) were the designers best known for their innovative contributions to architecture, industrial design, and furniture manufacturing. They are best remembered for their mid-century modern furniture, constructed of innovative materials, including molded plywood, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, and bent wire, and aluminum, which offered consumers beautiful, functional, and inexpensive products. Charles Eames was born in St. Louis and after studying at Washington University in St. Louis on a scholarship for two years and being expelled for his defense of Frank Lloyd Wright, he began working in an architectural firm. Extending his design ideas beyond architecture, he received a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he became head of the design department. Ray Kaiser Eames was born in Sacramento, California. He initially studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York before entering the Cranbrook Academy, where he met and assisted Charles and Eero Saarinen in preparing designs for the Museum of Modern Art's organic furniture competition. Eames and Saarinen's designs, created by modeling plywood in complex curves, win the two first prizes. Charles and Ray married in 1941 and moved to California, where they continued designing furniture. During World War II, they were contracted by the United States Navy to produce experimental molded plywood splints, stretchers, and glider shells. In 1946, Evans Products began producing the Eames furniture and production was later taken over by Herman Miller, Inc., which continues to produce the furniture in the United States today.
