daniel ostroff Introduction

for the beginning of a fi lm about their molded texts provides a useful guide to their work and plywood chair—the one designated by Time allows for the widest possible range of subjects. magazine as the “design of the century”—Charles Charles observed that regardless of the product, Eames and Ray Eames wrote: “The problem of “the formula is the same for everything.”4 Here we designing anything is in a sense the problem of see how this “formula” applied to a variety of cre- designing a tool. And as in designing a tool it is ative problem-solving tasks. usually wise to have a pretty clear idea of what you The Eames Offi ce had three kinds of clients: want the thing to do. The need it is to fi ll, its par- businesses; public organizations, which included ticular objective.”1 museums, libraries, and government agencies; By approaching their work with this attitude, and teaching institutions. Examples of all of their as simple as it may seem, and by committing them- work, jobs where they purveyed not only designs selves to a “nuts and bolts” process, the Eameses but also ideas, are found throughout this volume. had an extraordinary impact on our world. They Clients in the business sector included the furni- created a well-documented legacy of architecture, ture companies Herman Miller and Vitra, plus ibm, furniture, toys, fi lms, exhibitions, books, and Westinghouse, Polaroid, and Boeing. Public sector graphic design. clients included the governments of the United My objective with this book is to present another States, India, and Puerto Rico, and the Secretariat important aspect of their legacy. of the United Nations. In addition to all of the “good goods” that they The Eameses gave exemplary service as visiting produced, the Eameses were prolifi c as educators, professors at many universities, including the making many important contributions to the University of Georgia, the University of , world of ideas. and Harvard University, and they delivered lectures Underlying all of their work is the principle at many more. that design should not be an act of creative self- The communication of ideas was a fundamental expression but rather a process of problem solving. aspect of their work, and it involved the same kind This book is a guide to the Eames process: how, in of iterative steps that they used to develop their their own words, they did what they did. designs. In this volume are texts on the develop- Process texts are found among their handwrit- ment of the Eames House, as they fi rst sketched it ten notes to themselves, published articles, inter- in 1945, as they modeled it in three dimensions in views, fi lm scripts, letters, commissioned reports, 1948, and as it was completed in 1949. In another and speeches. I selected texts from any Eames part of this book are all seven of Charles’s draft s source where they provided lessons, and where the of their design process diagram. inspirations that guided them or the insights that They oft en used the phrase “nuts and bolts” motivated them are revealed. As design historian when talking about their work, and this is a bet- Ralph Caplan once said, “ was not ter refl ection of their eff orts than any attempt to always teaching, but when you were with him you categorize them by style. When they applied them- were always learning.”2 selves to product design they developed the tech- Charles and Ray worked on a great variety of niques and machines by which their products are projects over the years and these texts are pre- still produced today. When they created an exhibi- sented chronologically. In 1977 Charles told a group tion they were responsible for every aspect, from at the Smithsonian Institution: “Most any time I’m the research and creation of the didactic material asked to talk about a general subject, I fi nd I can to the conception and construction of displays. only go through with it if I can relate it in some Their exhibitions were presented all over the world, way with actual current work that’s going on in our including at the Louvre, the British Museum, offi ce.”3 The chronological presentation of their the National Museum of Poland in Warsaw, the

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1405199_int_CS6.indd xiii 10/17/14 10:43 AM Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles I mean, there’s the passive and the active thing. County Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian A rose is functioning when it smells, and a rose Institution. As testimony to the lasting quality of knows darn well it is functioning or else it wouldn’t this work, the 1961 Eames exhibition Mathematica get the bees there.11 is on permanent display at the Boston Museum of Science and the New York Hall of Science. Function was never about theory for Charles and The Eameses’ writings are free of theory Ray, it was about designs that work, that provided because they weren’t adherents of a particular ide- “service and performance” to those “particular ology of design or philosophy of aesthetics. This individuals” who would use their products, see is evident in their furniture, as Eames Demetrios their fi lms, and attend their exhibitions. Charles points out in An Eames Primer. “Their La Chaise said that the “role of the architect or the designer chair and their esu were done within two or three is that of a very good, thoughtful host, all of whose years of each other. One is all curves, the other all energy goes into trying to anticipate the needs right angles.”5 In the words of their friend Bill Lacy, of his guests—those who would enter the build- “There is no Eames style, only a legacy of problems ing and use the objects later.”12 Eames chairs are beautifully and intelligently solved.”6 distinctively strong and lightweight with people- Some have classifi ed the Eameses as modern- friendly radius edges. Eames fi lms are characteris- ists. In fact, they insisted that they were not “-ists” tically short and to the point, and oft en use humor of any kind.7 Although the word “function” appears to get ideas across. To the extent they considered throughout these texts, it’s also imprecise to think the appearance of things, it was in this way: “The of Charles and Ray as functionalists because of decisions that produce a really functional their delimited view of function. As Charles told environment are no different from those that the aia, “I’m thinking of function in terms of ulti- set the aesthetics of that environment, unless mate service to the particular individual.”8 one has an extremely limited or brutal view of With regard to “ultimate service” they fully function.”13 committed themselves to the consideration of When asked by the mother of a young man what “everything” in their analysis of needs, and the use would prepare her son for a creative career, Charles of all the tools and information they could access. suggested that painting and drawing the boy could In response to a line in an E. E. Cummings poem, do on his own time. However, he said, “if he does “who cares if some one-eyed son of a bitch invents take any art courses, they should be in history and a machine to measure spring with?” Charles coun- appreciation.”14 It was from their own studies of tered, “I care.”9 They had a conviction that “you historic examples that Charles and Ray derived have to use the rational methods as far as possible. one of their most important insights. They decon- You must be a fool to decide in favor of less infor- structed the process by which great things were mation instead of more.”10 traditionally produced and observed that these The Eameses believed in evolutionary rather were created in a context of constraints. Their writ- than revolutionary design, and their emphasis ings are fi lled with historical references to all of on the important role of evolution in design is as the arts, including Paul Revere’s silverware, Native closely linked to the natural order of things as one American Kachina dolls, Mayan temples, Chartres can imagine. What they applied from their study Cathedral, the hand ax, and the Windsor chair. of the natural world is that it is the attributes that In 1958, Charles Eames was one of eight archi- work that endure. Reference this exchange from tects and designers who responded to a magazine a Q&A with Charles aft er that same speech about editor’s request for a statement on furnishing the architectural design to the aia: home. All of the other contributors illustrated their responses with photographs of contemporary question You assume all parts (of a design) interiors furnished with their own current designs. function? Charles was the exception; instead of showing how eames Oh, my God, yes. I mean, don’t you he would design a room using his furniture, he think you are functioning when you smell submitted a photograph of a nineteenth century something? Indian pueblo. His point was not that this was a question Beg pardon? style to be copied; rather, he was demonstrating eames Well, it’s functioning in that it smells . . . how limitations could result in good design.15

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1405199_int_CS6.indd xiv 11/22/14 9:41 PM This must have raised a few eyebrows in the alizes their work in the continuum of world history. charged consumer world of the late 1950s, but the Rather than take credit for doing something new, application of constraints is a subject to which the the Eameses argued, by referencing history and Eameses returned oft en. Contributing to a 1969 nature, that they were focusing their attention on exhibition at the Louvre, titled What Is Design?, a process that has always led to good results. the Eameses wrote, “Design depends largely on It’s reassuring that constraints are not inconsis- constraints.”16 tent with great productivity. Between 1947 and 1984, Charles oft en talked about the time in the early Charles and Ray introduced 25 furniture product 1960s when several noted architects participated lines; of these, 19 are in the permanent collection in a study about the nature of creative work. Each of the Museum of Modern Art, and 17 are still in was given a collection of one-inch square tiles of production. Fift y years aft er winning the aia 25 many diff erent colors and asked to create a design Year Award, their house in the Pacifi c Palisades, of one square foot. Philip Johnson, describing his California, inspires new generations of architects. own eff orts, said: “I used only black and white— Their fi lms are referenced by Hollywood directors what else?” Turning to , Johnson and video game designers. asked, “Eero, what did you use?” Saarinen replied, A detailed list of the kinds of design constraints “All white.” recommended by is found Celebrating his colleagues’ decision to self- in “The India Report,” in which they outline the impose limits, Charles commented, “This incident process that led to the development of the lota, gives a clue to how far the sophisticated architect that country’s ubiquitous brass vessel. They listed or artist will go to defi ne the restraints of the prob- more than forty factors, both practical and emo- lem he attacks. If limitations are not apparent, he tional. It’s a checklist that all designers and archi- will search for them or he will create them. This is tects would do well to consider, including: “How no trick and no accident. It is one of the few ways pleasant does it feel, eyes closed, eyes open? How that a concept of unity and structure can be main- pleasant does it sound, when it strikes another tained in the face of unrestricted choices and the vessel, is set on the ground or stone, empty or full, foggy or non-existent limitations that are charac- or being poured into? What is its cost in terms of teristic of our time.”17 working? What is its cost in terms of ultimate ser- Today we continue to grapple with this defi n- vice? How does it feel to possess it, to sell it, to give ing design problem. We live in the age of choice. it?”19 New technologies are introduced without pause; The kind of thoughtful constraints advocated newly sourced materials present designers (and by the Eameses do not lead to sterility or austerity. consumers) with an endless array of options. Many The world envisioned by Charles and Ray was not technological developments allow us to lead safer, barren of color or pleasure. “Who would say that healthier lives. Yet they can bring confusion and pleasure is not useful?”20 they asked. During an chaos. There’s also the problem of the allocation aia seminar Charles celebrated the jukebox: “If of resources: many of the materials and technolo- any of the more sensitive type people would design gies that characterize our time are inconsistent a jukebox, the thing would fade away in the corner, with good environmental stewardship. In a 1971 nobody would see it, and it would get no nickels. interview Charles noted, “The scary fact is that Its function is to get nickels and play the music. . . . many of our dreams have come true. We wanted It would be a bad jukebox design if it disappeared a more effi cient technology and we got pesticides into the surroundings.”21 in the soil. We wanted cars and television sets and This volume is the product of the application appliances and each of us thought he was the only of constraints. Charles and Ray left us a huge array one wanting that. Our dreams have come true at of writings. Charles delivered speeches regularly the expense of Lake Michigan. That doesn’t mean throughout his career, and the pair wrote, pro- that the dreams were all wrong. It means that there duced, and directed over 100 fi lms. There are more was an error somewhere in the wish and we have than 130,000 documents archived at the Library of to fi x it.”18 Congress. The Eames collection fi nding aid runs to The Eameses’ approach to design as problem- 78 pages, and this details only the fi rst 293 contain- solving, disciplined by an informed application of ers that have been processed. The work is so volu- constraints that relate to peoples’ needs, contextu- minous that 500 additional containers are yet to be

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1405199_int_CS6.indd xv 10/17/14 10:43 AM catalogued: this is an ongoing eff ort for the library Ray felt most comfortable with this decision, but staff . With the Eames fi les taking up more than 120 we do possess enough information today to recog- linear feet at the Library of Congress, the collected nize her full partnership with Charles. Their part- Writings of Charles and Ray Eames could easily fi ll nership extended to their written words. In 40 volumes. To make their writings as accessible this volume are three texts, formally attributed as possible, I made the decision to limit my to Charles, that were actually written in longhand choices to a comprehensive selection that would as fi rst draft s by Ray. fi t in one volume. When specifi c images are refer- Their oft -stated objective, “getting the best enced in the texts, those images are included, and to the most number of people for the least,” is when an image appeared with a caption, wherever another reason I chose to begin this anthology possible the original caption has been used. with the beginning of their collaboration.26 It was I further constrained the contents of this book in 1941 that they began work on the fi rst design for by beginning in 1941 with those texts produced which they developed the means of mass produc- aft er they rstfi met and worked together at the tion: a molded plywood leg splint for the U.S. Navy Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. Both Charles Medical Department. Charles and Ray worked on and Ray accomplished much before Cranbrook. the splint together, in their very fi rst apartment, Ray (then Ray Kaiser) had worked with Hans and the speed of that accomplishment (by 1942 the Hofmann for six years. She was a founding mem- splint had been accepted by the U.S. Navy) was a ber of the American Abstract Artists Group. Her harbinger of the great productivity ahead of them. work was exhibited in major museums alongside Each leg splint bears a stamp, “Patent Pending such other painters as Ad Reinhardt, Burgoyne Eames Process.” Their “process”—the subject of Diller, and . Charles was involved in most of the texts in this volume—was a synthesis an architectural practice throughout the 1930s and of the contributions they both made to the fi nished was responsible for designing fi ve houses in St. products. Louis and two churches in Arkansas. Mass production was central to their thinking. When Charles talked about the history of his Ray said, “Anyone making one thing—that’s very work, he oft en began his narrative with 1941, the nice, to make one thing. But to be able to keep the date he fi rst worked with Ray, and the year he and quality in mass production is the only reason we’ve Eero Saarinen garnered two awards at the Museum been working so hard. Because we could easily turn of Modern Art for furniture designs, for which Ray out a nice thing, and another, and another. But to contributed the presentation drawings. Charles, fi gure a way that the hundredth, and the fi ve hun- who had attended the Washington University dredth, and the thousandth would have the origi- School of Architecture, noted that until he went nal character.”27 to Cranbrook, he had “no conception of what a Mass production wasn’t the end in itself; it was concept was.”22 For her part, when asked why she one of the means by which they set out to achieve gave up painting, Ray said: “I never gave up paint- their objective. For a 1953 San Francisco Museum ing. I changed my palette.”23 Ray began the process TV show they wrote, “Mass production has the of changing her palette when she married Charles possibility of bringing more concern, more sweat, and they moved to Los Angeles in 1941. This anthol- more blood and tears to the service of the individ- ogy begins when their collaboration began. ual consumer than the craft era could ever dream While only a few of the texts in this book are of.”28 As advocates of mass production it was im- offi cially attributed to Ray Eames, she was very portant to them that an Eames product “would much her husband’s co-equal, which is how have in its appearance the essence of the method Charles repeatedly referred to her. He began many that produced it,” and that it “would be produced speeches and interviews by saying, “She (Ray) is by people working in a dignifi ed way.”29 equally responsible for everything that comes Los Angeles Times reporter Dorothy Townsend out of this offi ce.”24 In a speech to the American documented Charles Eames’s participation in a Institute of Architects Charles explained that Ray 1963 ucla panel, “Problems of the Creative Artist”: preferred to work under the “brand name”—an “Charles concluded that the problem the artist important clarifi cation given the fact that for many faces in making decisions is one of morality, years their pieces were marketed with the words because, ‘we impose our creations on society.’”30 “Design by Charles Eames.”25 We don’t know why It was characteristic of the Eameses to focus on

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1405199_int_CS6.indd xvi 10/17/14 10:43 AM others. In describing the boundaries within which 1. Charles Eames and Ray Eames, “The Development they could work with “conviction and enthusiasm,” of the Molded Plywood Chair,” fi lm by the Offi ce Charles and Ray included the “concerns of society of Charles and Ray Eames, 1953, 16mm. as a whole.”31 2. Hugh De Pree, Business as Unusual (Zeeland, Mich.: Herman Miller, 1986), 50. This book features many previously unpub- 3. Charles Eames, Frank Nelson Doubleday Lecture, lished texts, including ones relating to this aspect Smithsonian Institution, May 1977, Part II: Speeches of their work process. In a personal letter to Ian and Writings series, Charles and Ray Eames McCallum of Architectural Review, Charles explains Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, that at fi rst they declined to participate in an Alcoa Washington, D.C. marketing initiative for which various designers 4. Charles Davenport, “Designer Charles Eames: Chairs, Fairs, and Films,” Los Angeles 3, no. 1 (January 1962): were invited to make new products from alumi- 24–27. 32 num. The Eameses accepted the commission only 5. Eames Demetrios, An Eames Primer (New York: aft er they came up with an approach that they felt Universe, 2007), 9. had social value. They produced a kinetic alumi- 6. Max Underwood, “Inside the Offi ce of Charles and Ray num toy powered by solar cells. This not only met Eames,” Ptah 2 (Helsinki: Aalto Foundation, 2005), 49. their client’s brief but also provided a delightful 7. Deborah Sussman, former Eames Offi ce staff member, public demonstration of the virtues of a sustain- in conversation with this editor, December 16, 2010. 8. Charles Eames, speech, October 10, 1952, American able, renewable source of energy: the sun. Institute of Architects, Kansas City, Missouri, Part II: Charles and Ray are very well known for their Speeches and Writings series, Charles and Ray Eames chairs, and of course this book includes numerous Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, texts about chair design; these bear as much atten- Washington, D.C. tion as any of the variety of subjects they wrote and 9. Bob Specht letter, copy to Ray Eames, December 16, talked about. Ralph Caplan addressed this in his 1982, Eames Offi ce Archives, Santa Monica, California. 10. Simon M. Pruys, “Eames,” trans. Jordan Sowle, book By Design: “I do not believe that any chair, Algemeen Handelsblad (Amsterdam), June 14, 1969. however elegant, contributes signifi cantly to life 11. Charles Eames, speech, October 10, 1952, American or solves problems that can seriously be consid- Institute of Architects, Kansas City, Missouri, Part II: ered major. However, the Eames approach to chairs Speeches and Writings series, Charles and Ray Eames (and to anything else) is an approach we can bring Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, to activities more important than taking the weight Washington, D.C. off one’s feet.”33 12. Digby Diehl, “Q&A Charles Eames,” West Magazine/ Los Angeles Times (October 8, 1972), 14–17. Writing as a visiting professor to his UC 13. Charles Eames, report to Howard W. Johnson, Berkeley School of Architecture students, Charles president, MIT, Container I:218, Folder 6, Charles gave the following provocation, which provides a and Ray Eames Papers, Manuscript Division, Library good context for approaching these writings: “The of Congress, Washington, D.C. great thinkers and doers in architecture seem oft en 14. Charles Eames to Mrs. Paul Tornheim, March to stand as personalities of style and form. But we 7, 1961, “T” miscellaneous folder, Part II: Offi ce File (1960–1969) series, Charles and Ray Eames believe much more reliable clues to their big direc- Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, tion can be found in the way they thought and Washington, D.C. among the things of which they were most fond.” 15. Frances Evans, “If I Could Tell a Woman One Thing “To really benefi t from the work of these men, About Furnishing a Home . . .” Family Circle 52, no. 3 look to their loves—be interested, be enthusiastic, (March 1958): 33. become involved.”34 16. Charles Eames, design drawings and statement for What Is Design? August 29, 1969, Eames Offi ce LLC Archives, Santa Monica, Calif. 17. Charles Eames, “Design: Its Freedoms and Its Restraints,” speech, New York Art Directors’ Conference, New York, April 1963, Part II: Speeches and Writings series, Charles and Ray Eames Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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1405199_int_CS6.indd xvii 10/17/14 10:43 AM 18. Anthony G. Bowman, “The Designer as Renaissance 26. “Sympathetic Seat,” Time 56, no. 2 (July 10, 1950): Man,” trans., October 19, 1971, Ameryka, Eames Offi ce 45–46. LLC Archives. 27. Charles Eames and Ray Eames, interview by Perry 19. Charles Eames and Ray Eames, “The India Report,” Miller Adato, “An Eames Celebration: The Several April 1958, National Design Institute, Ahmedabad, Worlds of Charles and Ray Eames,” PBS, 1975. India, Container I:45, Charles and Ray Eames 28. Charles Eames, handwritten and typed script notes, Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Discovery television program, San Francisco Museum Washington, D.C. of Art, Part II: Projects fi le series, Charles and Ray 20. Charles Eames, design drawings and statement for Eames Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of “What Is Design?” August 25, 1969, Eames Offi ce Congress, Washington, D.C. Archives, Santa Monica, California. 29. Diehl, “Q&A Charles Eames,” 14–17. 21. AIA Seminar transcript, October 10, 1952, American 30. Dorothy Townsend, “Designer, Choreographer Discuss Institute of Architects, Kansas City, Missouri, Part II: Creativity in Arts,” Los Angeles Times (April 8, 1963), Speeches and Writings series, Charles and Ray Eames section V, page 1. Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, 31. Charles Eames, design drawings and statement for Washington, D.C. What Is Design? 22. Olga GueftGuelt, , “3 Chairs/3 Records of the Design Process: 32. Charles Eames to Ian McCallum, November 14, 1958, 1. Charles Eames Leisure Group,” Interiors 117, no. 9 Part II: Offi ce File series, Charles and Ray Eames (April 1958): 118–22. Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, 23. Eames Demetrios, Changing Her Palette: Paintings by Washington, D.C. Ray Eames (Venice, Calif.: Eames Offi ce, 2000), 1. 33. Ralph B. Caplan, By Design (New York: St. Martin’s, 24. June Lee Smith, “Designer Charles Eames Tests Prize- 1982), 205. Winning Furniture in His Own Home,” Christian 34. Charles Eames, “Architecture 1 and 2,” Ark Annual Science Monitor (June 22, 1949), 10. (Student Chapter of the American Institute of 25. AIA Seminar transcript, October 10, 1952, American Architects, College of Architecture, University of Institute of Architects, Kansas City, Missouri, Part II: California, Berkeley, 1954), 29–31, Part II: Speeches Speeches and Writings series, Charles and Ray Eames and Writings series, Charles and Ray Eames Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.

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