Jude and I love a well-designed piece of furniture as much as the next couple, but in particular, we both really appreciate the Eames designs (and what they've done for Herman Miller) for their modern simplicity and clean lines. Charles and Ray Eames are renowned for their designs that while stunning in their own way, are not obtrusive. Most importantly, the two of them were able to beautifully meld functionality, design and comfort into everything they made, choosing flexible three dimensionally shaped materials that would better support the human form rather than upholstery. One day, we tell ourselves, we will have one piece of Eames furniture in our house. One day... :)So anyway, in honor of Charles Eames's 100th birthday, the Eames Office is making available the iconic Plywood Elephants in limited quantities. They were never in production, and hence have never been put on sale. Now, for $1907, those of you with some spare cash can own a small piece of design history. For regular folks like us, we'll just have to make do with a most delightful stop-motion animation, "A Gathering of Elephants" put together by Eames' grandson for the occasion.
[click for streaming video]What works is better than what looks good. The looks good can change, but what works, works.
-Ray Eames
[As seen in Boing Boing.]
2 comments:
There was a great display of this at the Henry Ford a few months ago - even better was the leg braces they made for the wars that are now art.
hi lana! now that's weird! the Eameses have another connection to MI in that Charles Eames was actually head of the design department at Cranbrook, which I think is pretty awesome!
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