Eames Plywood Elephant
Recent Sales
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Models and Miniatures
Plywood
Mid-20th Century Swiss Mid-Century Modern Animal Sculptures
Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Toys and Dolls
Plywood
2010s German Mid-Century Modern Animal Sculptures
Plywood
Mid-20th Century Stools
Cherry, Plywood
Early 2000s American Modern Stools
Plywood
Early 2000s German Mid-Century Modern Stools
Plywood
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Children's Furniture
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Children's Furniture
Cherry, Plywood
Vintage 1940s German Mid-Century Modern Children's Furniture
Plywood
Vintage 1940s German Mid-Century Modern Children's Furniture
Plywood
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Animal Sculptures
Plywood
Vintage 1940s Toys and Dolls
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Children's Furniture
Plywood
Vintage 1940s American Arts and Crafts Animal Sculptures
Plywood
Eames Plywood Elephant For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Eames Plywood Elephant?
Charles and Ray Eames for sale on 1stDibs
Charles Eames and Ray Eames were the embodiment of the inventiveness, energy and optimism at the heart of mid-century modern American design, and have been recognized as the most influential designers of the 20th century. The Eameses were lovers of folk craft who had a genius for making highly original chairs, tables, case pieces and other furniture using traditional materials and forms.
As furniture designers, filmmakers, artists, textile and graphic designers and even toy and puzzle makers, the Eameses were a visionary and effective force for the notion that design should be an agent of positive change. They are the happy, ever-curious, ever-adventurous faces of modernism.
Charles Eames (1907–78) studied architecture and industrial design. Ray Eames (née Beatrice Alexandra Kaiser, 1912–88) was an artist, who studied under the Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit (the legendary institution where Charles also met his frequent collaborator Eero Saarinen and the artist and designer Harry Bertoia) and married the next year.
His technical skills and her artistic flair were wonderfully complementary. They moved to Los Angeles in 1941, where Charles worked on set design for MGM. In the evenings at their apartment, they experimented with molded plywood using a handmade heat-and-pressurization device they called the “Kazam!” machine. The next year, they won a contract from the U.S. Navy for lightweight plywood leg splints for wounded servicemen — vintage Eames splints are coveted collectibles today; more so those that Ray used to make sculptures.
The Navy contract allowed Charles to open a professional studio, and the attention-grabbing plywood furniture the firm produced prompted George Nelson, the director of design of the furniture-maker Herman Miller Inc., to enlist Charles and (by association, if not by contract) Ray in 1946. Some of the first Eames items to emerge from Herman Miller are now classics: the Eames chair, the LCW, or Lounge Chair Wood, and the DCM, or Dining Chair Metal, supported by tubular steel.
The Eameses eagerly embraced new technology and materials, and one of their peculiar talents was to imbue their supremely modern design with references to folk traditions.
Their Wire chair group of the 1950s, for example, was inspired by basket weaving techniques. The populist notion of “good design for all” drove their molded fiberglass chair series that same decade, and also produced the organic-form, ever-delightful La Chaise. In 1956 the Eames lounge chair and ottoman appeared — the supremely comfortable plywood-base-and-leather-upholstery creation that will likely live in homes as long as there are people with good taste and sense.
Charles Eames once said, “The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” For very good collectors and thoughtful interior designers, a piece of design by the Eameses, the closer produced to original conception the better, is almost de rigueur — for its beauty and comfort, and not least as a tribute to the creative legacy and enduring influence of Charles and Ray Eames.
The original Eames furniture for sale on 1stDibs includes chairs, tables, case pieces and other items.
Read More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
A Guide to Herman Miller’s Most Iconic Furniture
The prolific manufacturer has partnered with many of the world’s top designers since opening its doors in 1923. Here are some of the company’s greatest hits, which helped transform the American home and office.
6 Surprisingly Modern Houses of Mid-Century Hollywood Stars
The innovative homes that once belonged to some of Tinseltown’s brightest stars prove that creative design is as daring as it is limitless.
Explore the Playful Side of Timeless Mid-Century Modern Design
A new exhibit takes a lighthearted look at the work of 40 American designers and architects.
1970s Corporate America Has Never Looked So Chic
Photographer Susan Ressler revisits the office life of decades past, whose style still resonates.