Charles & Ray Eames Surfboard Coffee Table for Herman Miller
About the Item
- Creator:Charles and Ray Eames (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 10 in (25.4 cm)Width: 89.5 in (227.33 cm)Depth: 29.5 in (74.93 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:Laminate,Metal,Wood
- Place of Origin:United States
- Period:Mid-20th Century
- Date of Manufacture:Mid-20th Century
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. age appropriate wear, scratches, edge dings and chips, oxidation to bases.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: 15495-7484KB1stDibs: LU921821196242
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. 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.
You May Also Like
Early 2000s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Birch, Bentwood
Early 2000s Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Card Tables and Tea Tables
Steel
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Aluminum
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Aluminum
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Travertine, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Ash
Vintage 1970s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Metal
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Conference Tables
Aluminum
More From This Seller
View All20th Century Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Leather
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plastic
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass, Lucite
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Maple
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
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.