Wandering aimlessly through the digital Marcel Breuer Archive one afternoon, we stumbled across a letter dated July 25th 1950 from Peter M Fraser, one of Breuer's employees, to the Eames Office, enquiring about a lighting design by Charles and Ray that Breuer was interested in using in one of his architectural projects, and requesting... ..."a lighting design by Charles and Ray"??? Eames lighting??? Eames furniture ✔ Eames toys ✔ Eames exhibitions ✔ Eames textiles ✔ Eames films ✔ Eames
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In our post from the Barbican Art Gallery exhibition "The World of Charles and Ray Eames" we noted the disappointing sparsity with which the otherwise excellent exhibition deals with the private world of Charles and Ray Eames. Arguing that understanding the designer is necessary to fully understanding their work. Charles and Ray are sadly no longer with us to directly answer our many questions; however, in the person of Charles's grandson Eames Demetrios we have an excellent alternative.
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"The World of Charles and Ray Eames" It is inherent in the nature of America's most productive 20th century creatives that there is no "world" of Charles and Ray Eames; there are "worlds" In their new Eames retrospective the Barbican Art Gallery London attempt to combine these worlds into a coherent, comprehensible universe. The World of Charles and Ray Eames @ Barbican Art Gallery London Charles Eames was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1907. Ray Kaiser in Sacramento, California in 1912.
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The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow, And what will poor robin do then, poor thing? He'll sit in a barn and keep himself warm And hide his head under his wing, poor thing. Or, and much more sensibly, take himself off and visit one of the new design exhibitions opening during March. And so not only keep himself warm but also informed, entertained and inspired. Our selection from the new, robin friendly, openings in March features an homage to East German concrete architecture in
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On December 15th 2012 Ray Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames would have celebrated her 100th birthday. Born in Sacramento California, Ray Kaiser attended the May Friend Bennet School in Millbrook before in 1933 she moved to Manhattan where she studied painting under the tutorship of the German Abstractionist Hans Hofmann; and consequently found herself at the centre of the burgeoning abstract art scene in late 1930s New York. A highpoint of which was her participation in the inaugural American
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"Wooden spoon for pickled vegetables by John F. Kennedy" ? ? ? John F. Kennedy. Green Mountain Woodcrafters, Vermont. And no relation of Teddy or Robert. Still cheered us up. From March 20th until April 25th 1951 Stuttgart hosted the first post-war exhibition of modern American home furnishings and appliances in Europe. Organised by the New York Museum of Modern Art under the title "Design for Use, USA", the exhibition featured a cross section of American domestic design. And a Who's
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As many of you will be aware, the construction of the VitraHaus was not without it's controversy. For all the decision to paint the outer walls black. We at (smow)blog can however exclusively reveal that other options were considered. And below we publish exclusive pictures of the rejected colour schemes. Berlin based, Dutch designer Hella Jongerius has created the Vitra Colour Laboratory to help encourage VitraHaus visitors to be more imaginative and creative in their use of colour. One
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Zeeland, Michigan, 1969 Ten years ago Charles and Ray Eames revolutionised the world of chair design with their "aluminium Chair" range. And now they hope to do it again. In one of the most eagerly anticipated announcements of the year, Charles and Ray Eames today unveiled their new product range: soft Pad “soft Pad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device” declared a proud Charles Eames as he unveiled the new range to the specially invited journalists in the
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It all started with "boutique" hotels. which, if one is brutally honest, were simply small hotels. Or guest houses as we used to call them. Back in the day. Then slowly, ever so slowly the term "design hotels" emerged and today - whether used to describe a hotel where each room has it's own "identity" or an establishment furnished with designer furniture - design hotels represent an important part of the accommodation repertoire, and tourist marketing concept, of all major cities. As with so
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In the world of designer furniture there are few designers for who "home" and "family" played such a central role as Charles and Ray Eames. From the design of their "Eames House" as a combined living and working space for a young family and on through their many works for and with children, Charles and Ray Eames always presented themselves as "domestic" rather than "industrial" designers. And so it is little wonder that so many of their designs can be so easily recommended as Christmas gifts.
read moreToday is World Usability Day. We do admit to be being more than a touch sceptical about the motivations that lead people to establish events such as "Global Avocado Day", "Bulgarian Aramaic Appreciation Week", or indeed "World Usability Day", but we can't help agreeing with the preamble to their charter. (Without endorsing the charter, per se): Human error is a misnomer. Technology today is too hard to use. A cell phone should be as easy-to-use as a doorknob. In order to humanize a world that
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On 03.11.1989 the Vitra Design Museum opened. On 09.11.1989 the Berlin Wall "fell". Coincidence? Almost certainly. But while the Vitra Design Museum may not be able to claim responsibility for the end of the DDR, it can look back on a remarkable 20 year history and proudly profess to have helped popularise designer furniture and furniture designers. Initially established as a location where Vitra chairman Rolf Fehlbaum could display his extensive collection of contemporary designer
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In the past week three independent events have occurred which fuse together in one important tale. Firstly, while visiting a student flat in Dresden the (smow)boss noticed an obviously well used, but functioning chair reminiscent of the EA 107 by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra. Despite assuming it to be a copy - student flat, Dresden, etc... - his professional curiosity got the better of him and thought he'd better check .. and Lo and Behold it was an original EA 107 by Charles and Ray
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In these pages we have often described the dangers and problems associated with non-licensed copies of design classics. And now thanks to Core 77 a particularly appalling case from the USA has been brought to our attention...as the images below show. OK it is art, and specifically an installation by conceptual sculptor Mark Wentzel for the Global Health Odyssey Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Entitled XLounge x 3 the show is, according to the PR blurb " ... a series of cleverly-adapted
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Eames DSR from Vitra On a recent trip we discovered a genuine Herman Miller Eames fibreglass chair bench at an airport. Being a relatively small airport - in fact so small that the word "airport" appears optimistic in describing it's capabilities - our frenzied photographing of the chairs and the Herman Miller stickers caused quite a lot of amusement. And that among individuals who spend their spare time photographing aircraft!!! Anyway, once we'd calmed down a little we started reflecting a
read moreIf we're honest we've never understood TED ... and probably never will. Which is cool. And regradless of, and in how far, we comprehend why TED exists, they do offer some wonderful short films and lectures... and the newly released 2007 talk by Eames Demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray Eames, is no exception. Occasionaly it wanders into the realms of "whatever!", but on the whole is a lovely little introduction to Charles and Ray Eames and for all their philosophy and approach to design.
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As a Europe-wide active business we at smow take Europe very seriously. We must, it is our home. And naturally for us the European elections are an important event for which we are more than happy to sacrifice a couple of hours of our time in which to go voting. But don't you also agree that polling stations are frightfully dull locations? We're not snobs, but, you know, one could at least try to, you know, make a little effort. So smow spoke to the responsible authorities in Leipzig and
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Ray and Charles Eames could happily be described as „multi-talents“. The American designer pair created functional furniture with a global appeal, shot avant-gard films, designed childrens toys and were responsible for the Eames House and Entenza House in Los Angeles. Charles Eames (1907-1978) studied architecture at the Washington University in St.Louis before a scholarship and subsequent teaching position at the Cranbook Academy of Art brought him to Michigan where he met the painter, and
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