Signed by Ray and Charles Eames

Signed by Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock

Charles and Ray Eames kept many of the holiday cards they received over the years—cards from family and friends, including the likes for Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, Eero and Lily Saarinen, and D.J. De Pree. Not surprising, considering the Eames’s inclination to collect and curate objects they found beautiful, intriguing, or particularly well designed.

For more holiday cards and Eames ephemera, visit the Library of Congress website, where you can view many of the over 1,000,000 Eames photos and documents housed in the Library’s collection.

In a big world, sometimes it’s the little things that stand out. A Mini Cooper zipping through traffic or a little iPad that fits in your pocket, some designs owe much to their diminutive size. The Eames Wire Base Low Table—LTR for short—is one such piece.

On it’s own or arranged in a row, dark tops beside light tops, veneer next to laminate—there’s no right or wrong way to use the LTR. Charles Eames demonstrated the fact in this photo shoot on the patio of the Eames House. So, if you’re in need of a place to serve hors d’oeuvres or a low stool or a part-time plant stand, don’t be afraid to grab this little table and get creative—Charles would be delighted if you did.

Looking to make a statement? Check out the Select Eames Wire Base Low Table, available for a limited time in three bold colors—cobalt blue, red-orange, yellow-gold.

A diagram drawn by Charles Eames to explain the intersecting concerns of a design problem.

“Design,” said Charles Eames, “depends largely on constraints.” That quote came to mind listening to John Pugh’s recent presentation at PSFK Conference London. As director of digital communications for pharma firm Boehringer-Ingelheim, Pugh knows a thing or two about constraints; few industries are as regulated as pharmaceuticals.

But is Pugh whining? No. Echoing Eames, he says “restrictions force us to create.” Pharma companies do great work under strict constraints when it comes to researching and developing drugs, notes Pugh; they need to be just as creative in promoting themselves, and using social media to do so, despite regulations and a history of not doing it very well.

That attitude fits the view Eames articulated about design: “Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem: the ability of the designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible; his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints.”

Inspired by Charles and paying homage to the rigorous process that produced many iconic designs, the PM Gallery of London entitled its new exhibit on graphic works of the Eames Office Address the Need. On display alongside well-known pieces, such as the Giant House of Cards and Powers of Ten film, are brochures, posters, and other rarely seen items. It should be a visual treat.

If you’re in the area, check it out. Address the Need will be open to the public until November 3, 2012. For more information on the exhibit, click here.

The truth, Charles and Ray realized, is that numbers only represent one percent of the world of mathematics. From a pinball demonstration of celestial movement to a 1,000-year timeline of mathematical discoveries and influential events, Charles, Ray, and the entire Eames Office worked hard to bring mathematics to life without numbers.

That timeline, long considered an outstanding example of interactive learning, joins nine Eames short films in a new iPad application developed by IBM and the Eames Office. Entitled Minds of Modern Mathematics, the app faithfully reproduces the entire 50-foot-long installation, and features hundreds of retouched photos used in the exhibit.

If, as Charles saw it, the goal was to “let the cat out of that bag… that one of the greatest secrets of science is the genuine fun and pleasure that scientists get out of it,” then the new Minds of Modern Mathematics app opens the bag for a new generation of learners.

Jonah Lehrer, author of Imagine, believes it’s because people don’t have time for creativity at work. Chaining yourself to your computer in search of an answer, Lehrer argues, is only going to leave you frustrated. “You may look productive, but you’re actually wasting time.” Instead, he advices “go for a walk. You should play some ping-pong. You should find a way to relax.”

Scientific research backs up Lehrer’s advice, finding that people who are relaxed and in a good mood are more likely to have innovative or creative thoughts. And companies like 3M are taking advantage of this fact. With a track record of innovation, 3M gives every engineer an hour a day to use as he or she likes. Some tackle side projects, while others indulge in a personal hobby. The only catch is that they must share what they pursue during those hours with colleagues.

It worked for Charles Eames and has paid off for 3M. When will more companies realize the creative spark that catches fire may just be an hour away?

Formed over a millennium under heat and pressure, stone reflects the particular characteristics of its origin. A fact kept in mind when we selected stone tops for the new Nelson and Eames outdoor tables.

Wanting stone with unique character, we found four we liked from quarries across North American: Georgia White Marble, a white stone with accents of warm beige and grey veins; Georgia Grey Marble, a cloudy grey stone with strong veins of light and dark grey, and reflective crystals; Wisconsin Black Marble, a dark stone speckled with lustrous green and grey veins; and Quebec Graphite Granite, a subtly patterned granite composed of deep grey hues.

Each is a natural complement to the design it sits atop, and durable enough to stand up to all types of weather.

The Valastro's 1954 Brooklyn apartment with their new Eames furniture. Photo: danielostroff.com

In 1954, a young couple invested their wedding money in furniture for their modest Brooklyn apartment. The furniture, designed by another young couple, Charles and Ray Eames, lasted a lifetime.

For five decades, Sal and Gladys Valastro lived with their Eames designs. They treated the furniture with care, but never pampered it from the rough and tumble of everyday life. At the hands of the Valastro sons, an Eames rocker, turned over, became a turtle shell and the molded plywood coffee table was a spot to sit and spin.

Eames + Valastro is the story of a family with good design. Author, and Eames scholar, Daniel Ostroff provides a reminder that the Eameses designed for life, and their work only gets better with use.

An early prototype of the Eames lounge developed in 1946.

In 1945, Charles and Ray Eames introduced the world to molded plywood as a material for furniture. Using a process perfected in the living room of their Westwood apartment, the Eames created numerous prototypes. With each, they learned the characteristics and limitations of molded plywood, eventually landing on the forms of their iconic molded plywood chairs.

This February, see the Eameses’ hard work on display along with plywood designs by Aalto, Jacobsen, Yanagi, and others at Plywood: Material, Process, Form at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Hurry, the exhibition closes February 27, 2012.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, there’s now more of it for every beholder of our classic Eames designs. MCL is a new premium leather that preserves the luxurious feel and texture of a material that has long been the epitome of upholstery choices.

Most upholstery leathers are sanded and pressed to make the grain—the natural pebbled texture of leather—look more uniform. By contrast, MCL celebrates the inherent characteristics of high quality leather. Soft and thick, MCL closely resembles the aniline leather used on the original Eames lounge chair and ottoman. Over a lifetime of use MCL will wrinkle and patina naturally, meaning it will wear in, not wear out.

While the home has been preserved, nothing has been restored. It is just as Charles and Ray intended. It feels warm, inviting and has the patina of use: the paint is chipped, the dinner bell is rusty, and the leather on the lounge chair and ottoman is cracked from sitting. Their collections are on display everywhere. It couldn’t feel more different than the sleek, museum-like interiors that we see their furniture featured in today.

Throughout, there are examples of Eames design–but not the ones you and I know. A patio table built from the base of their famous ottoman sits outside, probably a little rustier than when they used it; a walnut stool became a Lazy Susan holding a TV; and a plant is perched on top of an extra, extra tall modified table base. They simply used what they had to make what they needed.

Outside, old trucks and other toys litter the yard and in the corner are remains of a wooden fort built for the grandchildren.

Visiting the home of Charles and Ray Eames and glimpsing into their life together transformed two design icons into people, who, in many ways, were just like you and me.

Asked to design lobbies for the newly completed Time & Life Building in Manhattan, Charles and Ray Eames created what would become two classic designs.

Intended to be waiting areas during the day and staff lounges after hours, the lobbies needed a comfortable chair, but one with a smaller footprint than the iconic Eames lounge. The Eameses conceived a new design composed of a bent plywood core covered in foam and thick, black leather. The arms, seat, and back were joined with polished aluminum frames. The result exuded executive appeal and became the centerpiece of each lobby.

The Time-Life lobbies also provided the impetus for a series of stools designed by Ray. Turned from solid walnut, the upper and lower sections of each stool were identical, with a unique center section. Many profiles were explored before Ray settled on three she liked. The stools served dual uses as low tables and seats.

These two designs were so intertwined with the project that inspired them that even today they are referred to as the Time-Life chair and Time-Life stool. Both of these classics are still available today.

Designed as a device for hanging things, the Eames Hang-It-All is an example of an object that appears simple but upon closer look reveals playful originality.

The design—short rods on a wire frame, each capped with a wooden ball— leveraged the Eameses’ understanding of resistance-welding, a mass-production technique of simultaneous welding wire. It was a technique they used in other designs such as the wire chair and wire-base table. By designing with the manufacturing process in mind, the Hang-It-All was easy to produce and affordably priced.

Wanting to make it a place for a child’s belongings, Charles and Ray chose white for the frame and painted each ball a bright color—red, yellow, pink, blue, magenta, ocher, green, and violet. They imagined it the prefect place for a jacket, mittens, scarves, as well as doll clothes, or a slingshot.

Originally distributed by Tigrett by direct mail, production ended in 1961. Herman Miller obtained permission from the Eames Office and began making the Hang-It-All again in 1993, and in 2010 released a limited-edition version with a black frame and walnut balls.

The Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Photo: Eliel Saarinen

Sunny California is often considered the center of modern design and architecture, but could the heart of mid-century modernity be found along the shores of Michigan?

Alexander Girard, Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Gilbert Rohde—all pioneers of mid-century design and beloved by Herman Miller—lived, learned, and worked in the state. They are only the tip of the designer iceberg. Noteworthy architects who left structural legacies on Michigan soil including Frank Lloyd Wright and Eero and Eliel Saarinen.

Why Michigan? Many reasons, and certainly it was West Michigan’s furniture industry, the opportunity to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, exhibits hosted by the Detroit Institute of Art in the heart of the Motor City, and the numerous patrons who supported a new vision for the world.

To learn more, visit Michigan Modern, a project working to raise awareness of the state’s design legacy and share examples of the state’s ongoing leadership in modern design.

Where do you begin celebrating 45 years of California art and design? With 60 museums and 70 galleries, to be exact. Pacific Standard Time, believed to be the largest museum collaboration ever, will be showcasing works by California-based artists and designers from now until January.

From the works of Charles and Ray Eames in the 1940’s to the hardcore punk scene of the 1980’s, California’s artistic influence is on display. Check it out and see why LA can go toe-to-toe with NYC when it come comes to art.

Check out Lifeworks for peek at a few Eames and Herman Miller related exhibits.

Dared to create art on art, local Austin artists and designers turned the smooth, white surface of an Eames molded plastic chair into the medium for their expression. Some turned to Mondrian for inspiration and others to a hammer and nails. The Good Design Challenge was held in conjunction with a recent Herman Miller exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art.

This isn’t the first time an Eames chair has become a canvas.

While for many of us—myself included—the thought of a smudge, much less a deliberate brush stroke, on one of our precious pieces of furniture makes us cringe. But not the Eameses, who treasured Saul’s chair, and displayed it proudly.

Surely they would be delighted to see that artists today continue to find inspiration in their work and use their designs as a canvas for expressing their own artistic visions.

Check out Operation Design for pictures from Eames Inspiration, a charity event Herman Miller co-sponsered last year.

Charles Eames famously said it’s the details that make the product. In this case, it was the Herman Miller booth at ICFF. It was an ingenious homage to the J. Irwin Miller House in Columbus, Indiana.

Booth designers Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows added two “walls” to suggest structure. Covering the booth with a fabric scrim supported by white beams softened the harsh lights of the exhibition hall while hinting at the home’s skylights. An interior wall of silk screened with bright, angular shapes abstracted the home’s storage wall. High-gloss flooring and a bed of live ground cover recalled the travertine floor and extended roof lines of the home.

 In these areas, where the distinction between indoor and outdoor became blurred, Eames Aluminum Group chairs were on display. The Millers were among the first to embrace these chairs for their terraces. With new fabrics and finishes designed for the outdoors, the chairs have returned to their original intent and took an award for it. These were nestled around an Eames table with a new stone top, the effect striking and wonderfully textural.

We’ve been busy this weekend at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City. This year’s booth was inspired by the Miller House and designed by BassamFellows (check out Lifework for more on these two very soon). It’s a clear and beautiful design statement that showcases our pieces perfectly, including the new Eames Aluminum Group Chairs (which won Best Outdoor Furniture category in the Editor’s Choice Awards).

Tomorrow the show opens to the public, so stop by for a visit, check out the booth, and tryout one of the new chairs. If you can’t make it, we’ve put together a slideshow for you. Enjoy!

Photos 1-5 via Paul Warchol Photography.

It was available from Tigrett Enterprises’ Playhouse Division until the company went out of business in 1961. Herman Miller reintroduced it in 1994.

Herman Miller’s Gregg Vander Kooi chose to feature the Hang-It-All as this year’s Select item because of its whimsical appeal.

“Plus,” he adds, “walnut is a fairly neutral wood that fits with almost any décor.”

The Select Hang-It-All carries a minimum advertised price of $249. It will be available from the company’s global network of dealerships and retailers.

Hurry! It’s only available until February 15, 2011, or while supplies last.