The general idea to use three-dimensionally bent plywood for ergonomically shaped seat shells had already been formulated by Charles Eames together with Eero Saarinen in 1940, but the technical means to serially produce such shells did not yet exist. Charles Eames and his wife Ray thus decided to develop the needed technique themselves. In 1941, they established a workshop in their Los Angeles home which was centred around a self-built electrically heated compression-mould press. They researched different techniques of three-dimensionally bending plywood in a trial-and-error process.
For their first product, a leg splint for injured soldiers commissioned by the US-Navy in 1942, the Plyformed Wood Company was especially founded and Charles Eames was its official Head of Development and Research. While during World War II they mainly worked on commissions from the arms industry, after 1944/45 a product range for non-military purposes, with seating furniture at its centre, was developed.
In a long series of experiments they tried out different types of shells as well as numerous variations of base constructions. After having solved the problem of joining the seat to the base, the Eames’ plywood furniture was ready to be presented to the public in 1945. Serial production of the chairs started in 1946 at Evans Products. The development of the Eames plywood chairs is one of the most complex and influential chapters in twentieth-century design history.
Text: Mathias Remmele
