The mid-century modern design style is one of the most iconic and enduring interior design styles even today, decades after its initial introduction in the post WWII era. Characterized by clean lines and furniture made from simple, high quality materials, mid-century modern style continues to appeal to modern sensibilities. Though many pieces of modern furniture take design influences from this design style — from cozy fabric sofas with stylish wooden legs, to poplar media consoles and walnut dining tables — few pieces are as iconic as the lounge chair and ottoman originally designed by Ray and Charles Eames back in the 1950s.
Ray and Charles Eames: A Humble Start to Iconic Design
Charles and Ray Eames were a husband and wife design team whose impact on mid-century modern design style can’t be overstated. Once the director of the industrial design program of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Charles brought an architectural background to the table. Ray was the artist, with an interest in fashion design and theater. She enrolled in Hans Hoffman’s painting school, and helped to found the American Abstract Artists Group, then ultimately enrolled at Cranbrook, which is where their paths crossed for the first time.
The two married in 1941 and moved to LA, turning their early experiments with molding plywood — which would become part of their most iconic piece — to the war effort, where they made things like aircraft parts and leg splints. Once the war ended, they turned their efforts to using simple, modern materials like molded plywood, aluminum, plastic and fabric to craft their most iconic pieces.
The Eames House: Off the Shelf Materials With Unique Results
Soldiers returning from WWII ready to start their own families were going to turn a housing shortage in America into a housing crisis. To come up with potential solutions, Arts & Architecture Magazine came up with their Case Study House Program where they commissioned a number of designers and artists, including Ray and Charles, to come up with designs for modern yet modest homes in southern California. The house that they created, which is now on the national register of historic places, is where Ray and Eames spent the rest of their lives. Their goal in its construction was to take parts that were already being mass produced from steel fabricator catalogs and make something extraordinary. The Eames House, as it became known, took the bare and minimal aesthetic inevitably produced from steel and concrete structures and turned it in to a cozy home where they joyously spent the latter half of their lives.
The Eames Legacy: Functional, Durable and Beautiful
In addition to the iconic lounge chair and ottoman, Eames furniture is all around. From the tandem seating found in many airports, to the molded shell chairs that are ubiquitous in classrooms all over the country, to padded aluminum office chairs, the influences of Ray and Charles’ designs remain to this day. As key influences in mid-century design style, their impact on modern design and architecture cannot be overstated, and will certainly continue to be felt for years to come.