Fiberglass Side Chairs

1951 – 1993, 2014 – Present

The Eames Fiberglass Side Chair was developed in 1951 after the Eames Fiberglass Armchair of 1950. It was actually more challenging to design than the Armchair because, without arms, the edges where the back met the seat tended to crack.

Thanks to a new proprietary process of producing fiberglass, Herman Miller and Vitra are once again able to produce the Eames original 1951 Molded Fiberglass Side Chair safely by means of a less volatile, monomer-free “dry bind” process. Like the original shell chairs, our new fiberglass finish has the same covetable surface variation and tell-tale fiberglass striation that have attracted avid vintage collectors for decades.

Available in both the arm and side chair formats in eight archival colors from Herman Miller and six archival colors from Vitra, the chairs can be configured with a choice of wire, dowel leg, stacking, rocker, and 4-leg bases. An array of trim, finely tailored Hopsak fabrics designed by Alexander Girard, Herman Miller’s textile director from 1952 to 1973, round out the collection of shell customization options, fully restoring the integrity of the original 1953 shell chair offerings.

Eames Molded Fiberglass Chairs are manufactured by Vitra for Europe and the Middle East, and by Herman Miller for other regions around the world.  

Fiberglass chairs by Herman Miller can be recycled at the end of their useful life through the Herman Miller Take Back Program. The process for making shells and the nature of fiberglass mean that each shell is unique and can possess traits such as tiny cavities in the surface, small points of lighter or darker color, or faint circular shadows where the base attaches to the shell.