1956. Eisenhower’s America is in full glory. Ten years after saving Europe from Nazism, she stopped the imperial pretensions of the communists and imposed her country as the world’s policeman with a series of 17 nuclear bomb tests on the atolls of Bikini and Eniwetok. This enviable position had a considerable financial and human price, but it is that of democracy, it is estimated. If America makes the world tremble, it also makes it dream. With progress that would not stop producing liberating technological miracles,American way of life gives itself the appearance of the future of humanity. More births, less racial segregation, more highways and rapidly expanding suburbs, which now attract the middle class infatuated with individual houses with fully equipped kitchens and cozy and warm interiors. Comfort, in this year 1956, was chosen as its symbol by the Lounge Chair and Ottoman by the architect-designer couple: Charles and Ray Eames.
A meeting that changes everything
Born in 1907, Charles Eames was already famous thanks to his air-line molded fiberglass chairs. Considered revolutionary, in 1948 they won the second prize for inexpensive furniture design, awarded by MoMA in New York. Building on this success, Charles was put in charge of the design department at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art (Michigan), where Ray Kaiser, a painter born in 1912, studied weaving before becoming, in 1949, one of his assistants. They married a year later. Together, they developed the Kazam! Machine, a press for bending plywood that allows them to make children’s furniture.
After setting themselves the mission of providing the best possible quality to as many people as possible at the best price, the Eameses aim to develop a lounge chair that allows the body to doze off in an ideal relaxing position. It will be more expensive, therefore targeting a clientele who now aspire to comfort. Legend has it that Charles wanted a chair that looked like an old, well-patinated baseball glove. After several tests, the couple chose lustrous, robust and aesthetic rosewood as a seat, always molded in their Kazam! Machine. The cushions are made of foam, covered in black Scottish leather, renowned for its resistance and softness. It took almost a year of research to perfect the proportions and ergonomics of the Lounge Chair. With multiple innovations: the seat offers maximum modularity. An ingenious system allows the cushions to be attached to the structure without having visible screws. The Eames also imagined visible and elegant fixings for the headrest, calculated the ideal height of the armrests and the Ottoman footrest, also made with a leather cushion, veneered on bent wood and mounted on a foot in chrome steel. In total, 20 parts are required for the complex assembly of the lounge chair (model 670) and its footrest (model 671) produced by Herman Miller at the end of 1956 and sold for 404 dollars, which today would be equivalent to approximately 5,000 euros.
A global success
A few months after its marketing, the Lounge Chair and Ottoman benefited from a publicity stunt in 1957 which made it a national, then global, must. She is the star of a popular television show, The Arlene Francis Show on NBC. Charles and Ray Eames unveil their creation to the public in a particularly careful staging: a film made by them in which they explain the assembly and dismantling of the chair. That too is modern: showing how it’s done. The Eameses have understood that they are not only selling modern comforts, they are offering spectator buyers an almost autobiographical story that goes so far as to be exhibited in their house in Pacific Palisades that Charles designed and had built.
In these years when the word revolution hovers over all disciplines, in art as in craftsmanship, the Lounge Chair & Ottoman stands out as a leader. In 1957, it won the grand prize at the Milan Triennale and in 1960, it entered the collection of design objects at MoMA. On a commercial level, it was a success. The Americans adopt it, because the Eameses do more than create objects, they design environments. Their home in Pacific Palisades is constantly photographed and filmed, serving as a standard for their creations. The Lounge Chair sits in their living room while the two designers share tea with Charlie Chaplin or cocktails with Billy Wilder. With their emblematic piece, they sell the easy living of the triumphant America of the 1950s and 1960s. That of a beautiful and victorious world.
More than 6 million copies sold worldwide
Since its launch, more than 6 million copies of the Lounge Chair have been produced worldwide. It has a special place in the most important museums of design and modern art, from MoMA to the Center Pompidou. It remains one of the best-known and most sought-after modern chairs. New editions continue to sell for 8,000 euros, consolidating the Eames reputation. Charles died in 1978, Ray, ten years later. They went down in history as two of the most influential designers of their time.