While Charles and Ray Eames were not the first to design furniture using plastic, their work with the synthetic material has become some of the most celebrated. In 1948, just after World War II, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum Design Project, Inc., launched the Competition for Low-Cost Furniture. Intended to solve a lack of available low-priced furniture and improve post-war living standards, the contest drew 3,000 entries from around the world. It was here that the Eameses debuted their voluminous plastic design for La Chaise, its name and form both a nod to modernist sculptor Gaston Lachaise. Plastic was experiencing a coming of age—a synthetic novelty that, it seemed, could be used to make just about anything. Stamped steel and aluminum, the materials that the Eameses initially planned to use for La Chaise, had proved more difficult and expensive to produce than they had anticipated. In the end, the design duo did not walk away with a prize for La Chaise, but the chair garnered a great deal of attention and became almost immediately iconic. Yet La Chaise was not produced in the Eameses’ lifetime: Even using plastic, it still cost too much to manufacture. Nearly 50 years later, in 1996, Vitra put the chair into production. Though designed to be low-cost, La Chaise has become an object of high value, a design classic and a much sought-after addition to many homes. – Products Eames La Chaise courtesy of Paustian TwitterFacebookPinterest This story is from Kinfolk Issue Twenty-Three Buy Now Related Stories Design Fashion Issue 47 Hot Desk The many faces of a multifunctional workstation. Design Issue 45 Mac Collins Four questions for an emerging designer. Design Inside Looking Out A rewilding of interior design in the heart of Milan. Design Issue 44 An Unmovable Feast A place setting stitched for every season. Design Partnerships Together Again The return of the small gathering, in partnership with Fritz Hansen. Design Issue 42 Light Snack A luminous celebration of gelatin.
Design Partnerships Together Again The return of the small gathering, in partnership with Fritz Hansen.