A legend returns: Eames Fibreglass Chairs
The wait is finally over
Vitra is re-releasing the Eames fibreglass chair in 2018 - the legendary chair, which became one of the most famous furniture classics of the 20th century, was designed by the most famous design couple in the world: Charles and Ray Eames.
For many design enthusiasts, fibreglass was and is the only true material for the famous Eames chair. The "slick" of the Plastic Chairs was always suspect to them. What was missing was the special structure and liveliness that only fibreglass has. Thanks to a new production process, it is now possible to revert to the original material.
Some of the colours are also thoroughly "retro". Navy blue, raw umber, sea foam green, parchment, red orange and elephant hide grey are original colours.
The story behind the design
In 1948, Charles and Ray Eames submitted a chair with a comfortable and body-shaped shell to the "International Competition for Low Cost Furniture Design" competition of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The design took second place, but in its metal shell version it was too expensive for mass production.
The search for alternative materials finally led the Eames couple to polyester resin reinforced with fibreglass. Until then, this material had only been used for military purposes, such as radar housings.
The use of this material, which was new to the furniture industry, made it possible to mass-produce the design chairs. Production later had to be switched to polypropylene - this is how the famous Eames Plastic Chairs came into being.
Since 2018, however, thanks to a new material composition, the original fibreglass chairs can also be produced again, which more than delights many design lovers.
Discover the Eames Fibreglass Chairs now:
Charles and Ray Eames
Two names that cannot be ignored in the design world - Charles and Ray Eames. The Eames couple is one of the most important personalities in the field of design in the 20th century. Probably the most influential US architect and designer of the 20th century by far, Charles Eames was born on 17 June 1907 in St. Louis in the US state of Missouri. He studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.
Ray Eames was born Bernice Alexandra Kaiser in Sacramento in 1912. Her talent became apparent very early, her extraordinary talent for drawing was already discovered at the age of three. She first studied painting with Hans Hofmann in 1939 before beginning a four-month design course at Cranbrook Academy. There she not only worked with Eero Saarinen, but also met Charles Eames. Together with Ray, Charles started an unprecedented career - with the creation of numerous pieces of furniture that are still at the top of the design world today: the Plastic Chairs, the Lounge Chair or also the House Bird, to name just three of them.
In addition to designing furniture, the two have also made films, photographed and put together exhibitions. Vitra is the only legitimate manufacturer of Eames products for Europe and the Middle East.
