Welcome to the VINTAGE EAMES pages
a monthly feature on various aspects of vintage Eames designs, with sightings and selections from magazine and newspaper stories (including celebrities perched on Eames chairs!) and books, record albums (musicians perched on Eames chairs), movies (movie stars perched on Eames chairs!), advertising (products presented in association with Eames designs in an attempt to associate said product with the virtues of an Eames design), and more. This Eames Spotting of Madonna is an example of two types of Eames Spotting: a performer on an Eames chair in an advertisement for fashion.
The contents of the Vintage Eames pages are copyrighted by The Eames Office, including the images and the text, and are not to be reproduced in any media, including other websites, without the express written permission of The Eames Office.
is a work-in-progess. We will eventually include individual illustrated descriptions of every Eames Office design.
which includes images of original manufacturer's product literature, including catalogues, postcards and posters, in which Eames designs are featured.
your questions and "Vintage Eames" answers on all matters, including repair, restoration, identification, theory and history of Eames design. Please send your questions, with photos if you'd like, to vintage@eamesoffice.com
EAMES MANUFACTURERS
EAMES IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Currier Gallery of Art, New Hampshire
4 works online
Denver Art Museum , Colorado
"LCW" lounge chair
4 works online
Denver Art Museum , Colorado
"LCW" lounge chair
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Eames Storage Unit (ESU), 1953-55
Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City (in Spanish)
"La Chaise" chair
Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design
Folding Screen (image 8)
Eames Storage Unit (ESU), 1953-55
Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City (in Spanish)
"La Chaise" chair
Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design
Folding Screen (image 8)
Philadelphia Museum of Art
(On the zoom-in page, use the slider bar to magnify the image)
Lounge Chair
Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago
State Museums of Berlin
Shell-Chair, 1946
The Mint Museums , North Carolina
Molded Plywood Chair, 1946
(On the zoom-in page, use the slider bar to magnify the image)
Lounge Chair
Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago
State Museums of Berlin
Shell-Chair, 1946
The Mint Museums , North Carolina
Molded Plywood Chair, 1946
EAMES MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
An Exhibition at the Emmanuel Gallery in Denver, CO
The Meaning of "Vintage Eames"
"vintage" • (adjective) 1 referring to vintage wine. 2 referring to something from the past of high quality.— ORIGIN Old French vendange, from Latin vindemia, from vinum 'wine' + demere remove'
From THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
When we say "vintage Eames" we are using the word "vintage" as an adjective, and clearly we are not talking about wine, but rather, "some things from the past of high quality."
But, we can also look at the first definition, made from the crop of a single identified district in a good year," in reference to "vintage Eames." For this as well there is an EAMES vintage furniture analogy. "A vintage Eames chair" is not only made up of "vintage parts," all from the same year; a true "vintage Eames chair" is made up of all the original parts for that individual chair, as the chair was configured, before leaving the factory. These chairs left the factory intact and a true vintage Eames chair retains all of its original parts.
The Eames Office and Herman Miller were not in the business of offering "furniture kits" with mix and match parts. This is how the reference to "vintage Eames" relates to vintage wine. A vintage wine or piece of furniture is not adulterated, or made up of mixed parts, it is a unity, in all aspects.
The Eames furniture designs have bases and tops that are interchangeable but this was not for the purpose of mixing and matching. That there are interchangeable bases and other parts has to do with the goal of the Eames Office, which was to offer the best product, at the lowest possible price. Standardized parts, and connecting devices made it easier and more economical for them to offer the best products.
We hoist the proverbial glass of great wine, and offer a toast, to Charles and Ray, and the magnificent men and women of The Eames Office who collaborated with them, to bring such well made furniture, with such elegant designs, at low costs, to everyone.