Ray and Charles Eames, Designers that Shaped Modernism

Ray and Charles Eames are widely known for their numerous contributions to furniture design, architecture, industrial design and manufacturing, and photography.

Charles Eames was born in 1907 and attended school in St. Louis, Missouri where he developed an interest in engineering and architecture.  He briefly attended Washington University in St. Louis and began working in an architectural office.  Between 1929-1941 Charles would marry his first wife, father his only child, and later divorce.  It was during that time in 1930 that Charles would start his own architectural office.  His designs quickly extended beyond just architecture.

Ray Kaiser Eames was born in 1912 in Sacramento, California.  A student of the arts, she would study painting in New York before moving on to Cranbrook Academy.  This is where she would first meet and assist Charles and his partner Eero Saarinen in preparing their designs for a modern art furniture competition.  Eames and Saarinen’s designs, created by molding and curving plywood, would win several first place awards.

In 1941 Charles and Ray would marry, move to California, and continue their work molding plywood for furniture design.  The US Navy would commission them during WWII to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers, and experimental glider shells.  The pair's furniture would begin production in 1946. Esther McCoy, the influential architectural critic recognized for bringing the modern architecture of California to the attention of the world, would call their molded plywood chair “the chair of the century.”  Production skyrocketed, and it continues around the world today.