In the 1950s, Charles and Ray Eames took on a project to design a high-end, luxury chair. It was to be modern, chic, and stylish. It also had to be comfortable. For their design, the pair used the imagery of a worn and broken-in leather baseball glove. They wanted the occupant to feel as snug as a hand nestled in the warm and relaxed leather. Thus, the idea for the Eames Lounge Chair was born. English club chairs were used as the basic model for the applied design. I think it would be fair to say, that their design was a combination of function and art.
While not the only chair Charles and Ray would design, the Eames Lounge Chair was the most famous and had the biggest impact - particularly in North America.
The Eames Lounge Chair was made from three pieces of moulded plywood: a base, a backrest, and a separate headrest. Each of these pieces was covered in a rosewood veneer (later iterations would use cherry, walnut and other finishes as well). Finally, the three plywood shells were set with black or brown leather cushions. To complete the design, a matching ottoman was sold with the chair as a footrest.
The Eames Lounge Chair entered the market in 1956. It was a revolutionary design for the time. Not only was it modern and stylish, with smooth curves reflecting the futuristic post-war aesthetic, but plywood had never been used like this before. This was a high-end, luxury furniture item and masterpiece of furniture art that could actually be mass-produced.
Original pieces of the furniture today still command very high prices – often many thousands of dollars, and demand for original pieces still remains high. It is a little surprising considering this was a mass-produced piece of furniture. The roots of this design have been the inspiration for many variants of this style of high-end luxury lounge chair. You will often find similar styles of chair however they do not command the prices of the original.
