The Story of Eames Furniture - Hardcover

Neuhart, Marilyn; Neuhart, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 389955230X ISBN 13: 9783899552300

Publisher: gestalten, 2010

Synopsis

In this unique publication, Marilyn and
John Neuhart tell the story, to paraphrase
Charles Eames himself, of how Eames furniture
got to be the way it is. The Story of
Eames Furniture is a biography ―not of an
individual person, but of arguably the most
influential and important furniture brand
of our time. Brimming with more than
2,500 images and insider information, this
two-volume book in a slipcase sheds new
light on the context in which the furniture
of Charles and Ray Eames was created. It
documents in unparalleled detail how the
design process in the Eames Office developed
as well as the significant roles played
by specific designers and manufacturers.
Volume 1 presents the early years of the
Eames Office and its method of furniture
design and development. It introduces not
only Charles and Ray Eames, but also key
members of their design team including Eero
Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Herbert Matter, and
others ―a widely diverse group of people
who did the day-by-day work on the furniture
projects and who together ultimately
turned contemporary design in a new direction.
This volume also focuses on Charles
Eames’s early work with plywood and how he
adapted plywood-molding techniques into a
system to mass-produce furniture.
Volume 2 features the period from the
aftermath of the Second World War through
1978, the year of Charles Eames’s death and
of the effective, functional end of the Eames
Office. By explaining the pioneering industrial
processes used with innovative materials
such as fiberglass, wire, and aluminum, it
provides incomparable insight into how new
technologies served as the genesis for the
most interesting pieces of Eames furniture.
This volume also focuses on the role of the
Herman Miller Furniture Company in the evolution of furniture design at the Eames
Office and investigates the influence of Don
Albinson, who was Charles Eames’s primary
designer and technician from the mid-1940s
to 1960.
The Story of Eames Furniture celebrates
Charles Eames’s vanguard cultural achievement
of giving modern society the opportunity
of materializing its identity through
furniture design that, even today, still tops
bestseller lists and has not lost any of its
original elegance, timelessness, freshness,
and quality.

About this title

About the Author:

The Story of Eames Furniture was written and designed by Marilyn Neuhart together with her husband John. Both have worked with the Eames Office in various capacities from the 1950s until 1978, the year of Charles Eames s death. In working with Charles and Ray Eames for over 30 years, and having the extraordinary opportunity to be in close proximity with the members of the Eames Office and their patron manufacturers, Marilyn and John Neuhart have absorbed their stories and meticulously portrays the history and development of Eames furniture. This book is a firsthand account of the Eames Office from within and based on recollections of the Neuharts and those who worked closely with Charles Eames. More familiar with the material and protagonists than almost any other, Marilyn Neuhart has spent the last 15 years compiling the stories, images, and recollections featured in this book.

Review:

We ought to be grateful that instead of the hagiography we might
expect of such a sumptuous book, it presents the warts-and-all view
from inside the studio... By giving the Eames Office rank and file
their curtain call, it usefully explodes idea of the designer as a
solitary genius, which has always been a myth. --Justin McGuirk, The Guardian

A good old-fashioned design book... The result is a design geek s dream. Packed with information and insights on the development of every piece of furniture produced by the Eames Office, it is filled with product shots, technical drawings, advertisements, magazine and newspaper clippings, snapshots, profiles of the Eames s collaborators and employees, and anecdotes. --Alice Rawsthorn, The New York Times online edition

This book has been put together with almost the same attention to
detail as a piece of Eames furniture! --Jasper Morrison

This is my favorite design book of 2010. Yes, it's huge!...The quality and quantity of records is extraordinary. --Bill Moggridge, Director of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

This book has been put together with almost the same attention to
detail as a piece of Eames furniture! --Jasper Morrison

About this edition

• Publisher: gestalten
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 389955230X
• ISBN 13: 9783899552300
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 800