Eames chairs

Design that defines an era

Which designer’s chairs have been knocked off the most? One does not even have to be paying a lot of attention to know that it is the Eames’s: Charles and Ray. If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then they have received a lot of flattery. And they deserve it. Their chairs are still some of the best chairs ever designed. It might be a tribute to the knock-off-ers that they are selecting such good products to copy, although I suspect it has a lot more to do with a calculated sense of what will sell. Pirates are seldom encumbered with good taste or discernment beyond the chance of making a profit. To my surprise, a lot of the Chinese-copiers have modified the designs, slightly, and only for the worse. They don’t even realize how good the designs are that they are stealing.

A throwback

Those of us that have been watching Mad Men will have seen a lot of Eames chairs in use. They were, at that time, the measure of distinction, and if you wanted to look modern and knowledgeable, and you could afford them, they were the accouterments to have. And the Eameses, themselves, were hugely influential. They were a creative force without equal. The architect and painter who became partners, both romantically and professionally, and who then designed some of the best chairs that were ever designed, before and after. They represented an idealized version of what creative life could be like: beautiful, harmonious, elegant, diverse, celebrated, richly rewarded, uncompromising, innovative, poetic, limitless. I saw Charles speak, at Ontario Place, when I was a student. He stood there, in all of his tall, bow-tied splendor, with his charming voice, relating his charmed life and showing their charming short films. We didn’t just want to be like him, we wanted to be him.

I am sometimes surprised, these many years later, to discover just how much of their influence lives on. The renewed interest in mid-century modernism is part of it, but even without that, we designers would be referencing their work. They were kind of an idealized version of what was possible. In some ways, they represented the designer’s counterparts to John and Jackie Kennedy and the brighter future that they stood for, a designer version of Camelot.

The chairs are good chairs, in that they fit a human body well. I sometimes think that this shouldn’t be so difficult, as we are all generally aware of where our bodies have their bumps and hollows. And yet, many chairs ignore that reality. Many chairs are too deep, for one example, and despite Charles being a tall man, their chairs had the sort of seat depth that encouraged one to sit up and, as well, not risk injury to that vulnerable spot behind our knees. The lumbar provided support without being obtrusive. The backs were high enough without losing their modernity. The arms are where they are supposed to be. They aren’t too heavy. And they are also good chairs because they are pleasing to look at.

A little help from their friends

Maybe they were not quite as super human as they seemed. Ultimately, they were eclipsed, by younger people and changing fashions. They had the advantage of being in the right place at the right time and they were supported by some very important people. And they must have hired well, because they couldn’t have done it all themselves. They had the good fortune to have found, early on, an exceptional client, in Dirk Jan De Pree of Herman Miller, who allowed them to design without compromise, and who paid them well for it. But they made the most of their opportunity, in the best, professional way possible. And they left us with some very good, very often imitated, chair designs, and the legacy of how to live with and in style. That is still something to aspire to.

Paul Epp is professor at OCAD University and chair of its Industrial Design Department.

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