
Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman
Long before it was the pièce de résistance in a collector’s office or an upscale bachelor pad — landing in ample design magazines, on television and in well-appointed offices over the years — the Eames lounge chair was a fresh, subversive new take on a classic club chair and a culmination of experimentation by its inventive creators.
Charles and Ray Eames (1907–78; 1912–88) met while studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the prestigious Michigan institution that drew such illustrious design minds as Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen and more. After graduation, they formed the Eames Office, where they spent much time exploring and formulating new techniques in bent plywood and fibreglass with the goal of producing affordable furniture for a mass market. The Eames lounger, on the other hand — with its signature wood-grain back and sumptuous (usually black) leather seat — was different.
While the couple’s DCW chairs, introduced in the 1940s, prioritised ease of production and affordability of materials, the lounge, which debuted in 1956, was Charles and Ray’s interpretation of luxury furniture. And to the Eameses, luxury meant, above all, comfort. The couple famously called the lounge chair and ottoman “a special refuge from the strains of modern living” and described their design as having the “warm receptive look of a well-used first baseman’s mitt.”
Although the seat makes use of the same bentwood technique the Eameses pioneered using their famous “Kazam! Machine” (a handmade apparatus for moulding plywood) for their DCW chairs, it tops off this frame with supple leather over a plump, upholstered shape. Ever fascinated by ergonomics, the Eameses carefully calibrated the pitch of the seat. It has enough flexibility for comfort but not so much that stability is sacrificed. This precise shape comes by way of three connected plywood pieces, which, on early models is covered in five layers of Brazilian rosewood; owing to an early 1990s-era embargo on the material, however, the Brazilian rosewood has since been replaced with either ash, walnut or palisander. The accompanying ottoman is the icing on the comfort cake, inviting the sitter to quite literally kick back and relax.
Today, imitations of the Eames lounge chair and ottoman abound. The seat is currently manufactured by both Herman Miller and Vitra, and when it was launched initially by the former, the supporting marketing blitz emphasised the chair’s versatility — an effort that, given the seat’s current ubiquitousness, was clearly successful.
Eames Lounge Chair Ottoman
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium, Steel
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium, Steel
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Ottomans and Pouffes
Leather, Bentwood
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Wood, Walnut
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Swivel Chairs
Leather, Plywood
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Hardwood
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium
Vintage 1950s North American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Steel
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium
Vintage 1950s Swiss Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Chrome
Early 2000s American Lounge Chairs
Palisander, Leather
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Rosewood
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Rosewood
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Rosewood
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Hardwood
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Armchairs
Steel
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Swivel Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1970s American Ottomans and Pouffes
Leather, Rosewood
1990s German Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Cherry
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Aluminium
Vintage 1950s North American Lounge Chairs




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