In 1951, Charles and Ray Eames met the challenge of making a reasonably
priced, quality chair that was light yet strong. Their solution - the
Eames wire chair. It featured a sculpted look, comfort, and
practicality which made It an immediate hit. Today's versions remain
true to the original design, materials, and detailing.
They made the rim of the chair a lighter-gauge wire and doubled it for
stability to achieve strength requirements, an organic shape, and cost
restraints. This advance won them the first American mechanical patent
for design.
The airy silhouette of the wire chair is achieved by wires, cross-woven
and positioned on a bent-wire, welded chrome base, also called the
'Eiffel Tower' base. The chair's organic shape fits the contours of the
body making the wire chair a perfect choice for residences and
workplaces alike. Also available with standard wire seat and back, or
with a criss-cross two-piece leather pad (the 'bikini'). Leather seat
pad is available in your choice of three colors.
In the early 1950s, the Eames office investigated bent and welded wire
as the basis for furniture. Inspired by trays, dress forms, and
baskets, the office developed a variety of pieces, including Eames wire
chairs.
They made the rim of the chair a lighter-gauge wire and doubled it for
stability to achieve strength requirements, an organic shape, and cost
restraints. This advance won them the first American mechanical patent
for design.
The chair was marketed by Herman Miller until 1967 and reintroduced in 2001.
Designed
in 1951, the Eames' wire chairs are essentially a 3-D line drawing in
space of the earlier fiberglass chair. Almost invisible in bulk form,
this chair, in it's many configurations, was constructed of
resistance-welded metal rods spaced for support. The wire chair was
available with a wide variety of covers including leather, vinyl and
fabric patterns designed by Eames friend, Alexander Girard. Fabrication
of the wire chairs was another example of the Eames' converting war
technologies to the peacetime production of well-designed consumer
goods. Wire rod was already being used as a structural design element
in many of the Eames' other furniture designs, including the Storage
Unit Series of multi-colored cabinets and several low table wire bases.
The wire mesh shell seat concept was further developed dramatically
in Diamond chairs (later known as Bertoia chairs) designed by Harry
Bertoia (1915-1978) and introduced by Knoll in 1952 in both low and
high-back models. Bertoia, a sculptor and furniture designer who was at
Cranbrook with Eames and had worked with Eames on chairs.
(dining height k-wire shell r-wire base)
(pivot k-wire shell wood base)
19" w | 21.25" d | 32.75" h | seat; 18.5" h
image credit:[Dicky]
image credit:DesignMinistry
