Archive and Estate: The Charles & Ray Eames collection

In 1988, the Vitra Design Museum took on the property estate of Charles and Ray Eames. It includes material studies, prototypes, study models, tools, series products, as well as archival material like photographs, and documents almost all of the important designs by the designer couple encompassing their entire creative period from 1940 into the late 1970s. Among the approx. 1000 items, there are numerous experiments with moulded plywood, which the Eames’ initially tested in the 1940s as plywood splints for treating bone fractures for the U.S. Navy and which later led to the first three-dimensional moulded plywood seat shells. Further items show their ground-breaking work on seats made out of plastic, experiments with seats made out of a wire frame, the development of the Aluminium group and the legendary Lounge Chair. In its entirety, the estate reveals a fascinating productivity and variety of ideas, in keeping with Charles Eames’ motto: “Getting the best to the most number of people for the least.”