Charles Eames

CHARLES EAMES (USA, 1907 - 1978) & RAY EAMES (USA, 1912 - 1988) for Vitra Editor.
EA-219 office chair.
Aluminum base and chrome armrests, new upholstery in cognac aniline leather, five-point base with castors.
With Vitra Soft-Pad high backrest with casters.
Adjustable height and tilt function.
The chair has new upholstery and the base shows slight signs of wear.
Measurements: height 102-115, seat 49-62, 58 x 60 cm.

The Soft Pad office chair by Charles and Ray Eames was created in 1958 for Vitra. It features an argonomic shape that adapts easily to the contours of the body, and is in keeping with the elegant language developed by the Eames couple in the 1950s and 1960s.

Charles and Ray Eames, a married couple and artistic couple, worked in the fields of industrial and graphic design, fine art and film, and are responsible for numerous designs that have become classics of the 20th century. Charles Eames studied architecture for two years at the University of Washington, then began his career working in a studio on residential housing projects. In 1938 he moved to Cranbrook, Michigan, to continue studying architecture and design at the city's Academy of Art. He would eventually teach there, heading the industrial design department. Together with Eero Saarinen, the son of his teacher Eliel Saarinen, he designed the trophy for the Organic Design Award, given by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1941, after divorcing his first wife, he married his colleague at Cranbrook, Ray Kaiser. Together they settled in Los Angeles, where they would remain for the rest of their lives. In the late 1940s, Ray and Charles designed their home together, known as the "Eames House," now considered a masterpiece of modern architecture. In the 1950s the couple continued to work in architecture and furniture design, pioneering the use of new techniques and materials such as fiberglass and plastic resin in the manufacture of chairs. They are currently represented in the Design Museum in London and the MoMA in New York, among many others.