Pr. Early Eames Herman Miller Rope Edge DAX Chairs in Grey
View Similar Items
Pr. Early Eames Herman Miller Rope Edge DAX Chairs in Grey
About the Item
- Creator:Herman Miller (Manufacturer),Charles and Ray Eames (Designer)
- Design:Eames DAX ChairEames Shell Chairs Series
- Dimensions:Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 25 in (63.5 cm)Depth: 19 in (48.26 cm)Seat Height: 17 in (43.18 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Additions or alterations made to the original: glide feet are later replacements. Replacements made: Glide feet are later replacements. Wear consistent with age and use. Overall very good original condition, glide feet appear to be replacements, inconsequential flaw to one shell, please see images and description.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU978728266532
Eames DAX Chair
The scooped form of the revolutionary single-shell Eames molded fiberglass armchair — of which the Eames DAX chair is a variation — is ubiquitous in interior design today, found everywhere from restaurants to private homes to offices. In 1948, American designers Charles and Ray Eames (1907–78; 1912–88) conceptualized a lounge chair comprising two bonded fiberglass shells as well as a molded fiberglass armchair for the Museum of Modern Art’s International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design in New York City. The latter took second prize, and the Eames molded fiberglass armchair as we know it was born and brought to market two years later.
Charles and Ray met at Michigan’s Cranbrook Academy of Art, a breeding ground for some of the best-known mid-century modern designers in America. They collaborated on various projects before getting married in 1941. After establishing the Eames Office in Los Angeles, California, Charles and Ray would garner universal renown for their pioneering work in architecture, film, graphic design and furniture, producing timeless designs in their lounge chair, DCW chair and many more.
Partly an evolution of the molded plywood experimentation conducted by Charles and Eero Saarinen — with lesser heralded assistance from Ray — the Eames fiberglass armchair system featured a fiberglass-reinforced plastic seat positioned atop a variety of bases. DAX is an acronym for Dining (D) Armchair (A) on X-Base (X), referring to the height of the chair, the style of the chair’s body and the base of the chair. Today Eames DAX chairs, supported by a four-legged tubular steel base, are manufactured by Herman Miller and Vitra, both of which produce a fiberglass model as well as a polypropylene version.
Charles and Ray Eames
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.
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 (1907–78) studied architecture and industrial design. Ray (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 — they 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 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 collection of original Eames furniture on 1stDibs includes chairs, tables, case pieces and other items.
- Pair of Eames DCM Herman Miller Dining ChairsBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in New York, NYPair of Eames designed DCM (Dining Chair Metal). Chairs This pair of chairs are currently in later, but not new, orange paint finish, the metal frames are also in later black paint f...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsMetal
$2,600 / set - Eames for Herman Miller DSX in Blue Vinyl c 1971By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in New York, NYClassic Eames DSX chair in original blue vinyl upholstery, with black trim, over a blue fiberglass shell. The chair its in very good, original, clean and ready to use conditional th...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Set of Six Vintage Eames for Herman Miller Stacking DSS Chairs in Tweed FabricBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in New York, NYSet of six stacking DSS chairs, designed by Eames, for Herman Miller, having beige/ clay colored tweed upholstery, dark gray fiberglass shells, and metal legs. All are in very good...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Fiberglass
- Eames Herman Miller Aluminum Swivel Lounge ChairBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in New York, NYNice early example of iconic Eames design Aluminum Group lounge chair in dark gray vinyl, circa 1950-1970. This example features the earlier version of the bases, please see images. ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Eames Herman Miller Aluminum Base Swivel Desk Office Chair in Blue FiberglassBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in New York, NYIconic Eames design, hard to find form, fiberglass shell in blue, on cast aluminum base. This chair swivels, it is adjustable in height, and the base is on wheels, to make this a ver...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Classic Eames for Herman Miller Lounge Chair and Ottoman in Rosewood and LeatherBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in New York, NYArguably the most iconic Midcentury design ever produced, the Eames 670 /671 chaired ottoman remain as important and relevant today as when it was first introduced. This example feat...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsRosewood, Leather
- Herman Miller Eames Elephant Hide Grey DSR ChairBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Brooklyn, NYHerman Miller Eames DSR fiberglass chair on Eiffel base in elephant hide grey. Chair dates to 1961. Base has excellent patina and new glides. No s...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$1,250 / item - Herman Miller Eames DAX Fiberglass ChairBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Brooklyn, NYGorgeous and rare hue of red orange on this vintage fiberglass Herman Miller Eames armchair. Model DAX with H base. All shock mounts intact. Stamped Herman Miller under chair and gua...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFiberglass
- 4 blue leather rope edge Dax armchairs by Charles & Ray Eames for Herman MillerBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Kleinburg, ONFour blue leather classic rope edge dax armchairs by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. These chairs were designed in the 1950s by the legendary American couple, who experiment...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Early Rope Edge Eames Lounge Chair for Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Cincinnati, OHA very early 1st generation rope edge rare lounge height fiberglass arm shell chair with the larger rubber shock mounts having metal washers and satin black iron X base. The chair st...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsIron
- Rare Early Set of Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller Chairs in ZebrawoodBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in East Hampton, NYA set of 4 of beautifully grained early DCM chairs by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller in a very hard to find zebrawood pressure molded plywood on chr...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Original Eames Fiberglass Shell Chairs by Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Brooklyn, NYVintage 1960s molded fiberglass side shell chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. Gleaming shells are in original condition, each with a distinct thready texture...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsFiberglass
Recently Viewed
View AllRead 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.