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1st Generation Eames RKR Rocker by Herman Miller

About
Details
- CreatorCharles and Ray Eames (Designer),Herman Miller (Manufacturer)
- DesignEames RAR RockerEames Shell Chairs Series
- DimensionsHeight: 27 in. (68.58 cm)Width: 19.5 in. (49.53 cm)Depth: 27 in. (68.58 cm)
- StyleMid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques
- Place of Origin
- Period
- Date of Manufacture1950
- ConditionRefinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Black wire seat and frame appears to have been repainted at some point.
- Seller LocationHighland, IN
- Reference Number1stDibs: LU90911171138
Shipping & Returns
- ShippingShips From: Highland, IN
- Return Policy
This item cannot be returned.
About the Designer
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.
- Eames Lemon Yellow Zenith Rope-Edge, RAR Rocker by Herman MillerBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Highland, INThe first fiberglass Eames chairs were produced by Zenith Plastics. The early Zenith shells are distinctive for their high fiber content and larger, more substantial rubber shock mou...Category
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- Eames LKH-2 Lounge with Girard Upholstery by Herman MillerBy Alexander Girard, Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Highland, INThis terrific example of the Eames LKH-2 easy chair has a black wire seat, a bikini pad in magenta naugahyde designed by Alexander Girard and a zinc lounge height H base. Like Califo...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
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- Charles and Ray Eames Walnut LCM Lounge Chair by Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Highland, INThe LCM is our favorite of the Eames plywood chair designs. The metal frame gives an overall visual lightness and makes the wood seat and back appear to float. It combines industrial...Category
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- Eames Walnut Time-Life Stools by Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Highland, INA complete set of vintage walnut stools designed in 1960 by Charles and Ray Eames for the Time-Life building and made by Herman Miller. These beautiful, solid wood sculptural pieces ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsWalnut
- Eames Time-Life Chair by Herman Miller with Silver LeatherBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Highland, INThis Classic time-life chair by Charles and Ray Eames has been given a playful makeover with metalic silver leather upholstery. Originally conceived as an easy chair for the receptio...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Set of Four Eames Zenith Dar Armchairs by Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Highland, INThe earliest fiberglass Eames chairs were produced by Zenith Plastics and came in a limited palate of five colors including lemon yellow. The Zenith produced shells are distinctive f...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsSteel
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