Please CLICK on the image to download a pdf of the entire six page brochure.

This Herman Miller sales brochure features dramatic photography by HIRO, a "bright star of fashion photography" for such magazines as Harpers Bazaar when he did these pictures.   He has continued to do important work.  We thank photographer Jerry Sarapochiello, who worked for George Nelson for many years, for the correct attribution.

While much of this dazzling Herman Miller brochure details case pieces by George Nelson and his associates, there are some interesting EAMES facts to be gleaned from this.

At this point in time, what had been originally designed and designated as TIME-LIFE CHAIR, designed by the Eames Office in 1960 for the lobbies of the Time & Life Building at Rockefeller Center in New York City, had another name, the 3474 Tilt-Swivel chair. You see one on the cover page of this brochure and inside, with complete specifications, on page 2.

The Time & Life Chair was designed in 1960 and the chair which is documented here was first known as "Eames Executive Seating" when it was offered by Herman Miller to the general public in 1961. In 1964 the Eames Office designed and produced the 3473 sofa, and we presume that the designation of this chair as the 3474 chair, relates to and dates to that sofa and its "name."

By 1970, Herman Miller changed the designation of this chair. What was known here as the "3474" chair was given a new "name" in 1970 and thereafter: the "ES 104 adjustable tilt swivel chair."

We will eventually document this chair and its various "names" in the on-line Eames Catalogue Raisonne. This brochure illustrates an important phase in its history and nomenclature.

Collectors and others interested should note that in this 1966 brochure the chair is shown with its original "Time-Life" base. Eventually the chair was no longer offered with this base. Instead it was and is now offered only with an Eames Office universal base, which is similar, but not the same. If you look closely, particularly at the end downsloping parts of the leg base, you'll see the difference.

Thus this brochure serves another purpose, to help us date the transition of this chair from its original incarnation, with a uniquely cast "Time-Life" base, to the time when it was offered only with the Eames Office universal base. In this year, 1966, the chair was still produced with its original base.

One more point about this brochure. Please note the Eames Office DAT specs on page two, and color photograph on page 6 of the pdf. Compare that to the Eames Office DAT-1 (-1 designates upholstery) elsewhere in our Vintage Eames pages-- click on this link please http://www.eamesoffice.com/vintage/sales_materials_detail.php?id=10

to see the earliest incarnation of the DAT.
Between 1954, when the DAT had the form shown on that postcard, and 1966, when the DAT had evolved to this new form, several improvements had been made by the Eames Office. The DAT evolved from a chair with an iron base and cast aluminum footrests, to having a seamless, all cast aluminum base. The upholstery method had also been improved, to the benefit of the consumer. Nonetheless, the chair is still designated as DAT, because it fulfilled the same function-- Better!