Eames Spotting: Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman

Wim Crouwel is a renowned Dutch graphic designer who created the cover of April’s Wallpaper magazine. The cover coincided with a retrospective of the designer’s work at London’s Design Museum and the image below, of Crouwel in his book-lined home office reclining in an Eames Lounge Chair, accompanied the story.

“The connection between Charles and Ray Eames and renowned Dutch graphic designer isn’t related to furniture, even though in this picture Crouel is sitting on an Eames 670. I found the connection here, in an on-line biography of Mr. Crouwel’s work. ‘Although his ideas were Bauhaus-related, unlike many Crouwel was not a dogmatist. He was fascinated by the ideas about serial and mass production, as he stated ‘we need the machine since we have no time.’ But he also believed ‘the machine cannot replace the precision of the human eye and human feeling.’ Crouwel’s work has always consisted of these two essential elements: the emotional aspect and the rational one.’ That’s also a good way to describe the work of Charles and Ray, who always attended to the human element, and who brought ample craftsmanship to their industrially produced designs.  Another connection – Charles and Ray always made clear that they were not ‘ists.’  Their work addressed needs, not abstract principles.”

Daniel Ostroff, editor, EamesDesigns.com