When Was Plywood First Used In Furniture Making

The married man-and-married woman team Charles and Ray Eames started their eponymous studio a petty more than 75 years agone. Some of their biggest successes were thank you to their ingenious research in and use of plywood, and the company they well-nigh collaborated with throughout the years was the American furniture manufacturer Herman Miller. On the occasion of a new book chronicling the visitor's history, one of the book's editors (together with Amy Auscherman and Sam Grawe), the industrial designer Leon Ransmeier spoke to PIN–Upwardly virtually the importance of plywood for both the Eames's and for Herman Miller. To illustrate this story, we gathered a mix of images from the book and never before published archival imagery. This is the outset in a three-part serial highlighting chapters in the 600-page Herman Miller: A Manner of Living. An exhibition of the same proper noun is also currently on view at the Herman Miller showroom at 251 Park Avenue in New York.

Molded plywood sculpture by Ray Eames with mahogany and birch splints, c. 1943. © Eames Office LLC.

"This prototype from around 1943 shows (from left to right) a sculpture made by Ray Eames next to several leg splints. In the kickoff, the Eames experimented with layering pieces of wood veneer on pinnacle of each other to create chemical compound curvature in plywood, often making sculptures before they became focused on functional items. During WWII they segued into armed services production, making plywood leg splints, arm splints, and litters for carrying injured soldiers. After the war concluded, they managed to reapply the knowledge of production they gained from military applications towards manufacturing furniture. This image as well says a lot about the office in terms of their approach to creating design both industrially and artfully. Ray studied under painter Hans Hofmann, and was an artist first."

Molded plywood sculpture by Charles and Ray Eames, 1943. © Eames Role LLC.

"This sculpture would likewise take been made around 1943, during the war, when they were experimenting with molded plywood. Information technology's a very beautiful object. I like the hand in the image because information technology gives you a sense of scale."

Molded plywood forms for war machine aircraft by Charles and Ray Eames, c. 1943. © Eames Office LLC.

"The Eames Role produced these fuselage panels for a military glider effectually the same time period. The glider was made out of plywood due to a shortage of metal during the war. When nosotros were working on the book, we establish a nice note to Charles Eames from George Nelson (Herman Miller managing director of design 1947–72). In 1945 Nelson says, 'I accept oftentimes wondered how you and your artist-engineers have been doing.' That phrase "creative person-engineers" really sums it upwards. The Eames Office had Harry Bertoia, Gregory Own, Don Albinson, and many other people tinkering and innovating. None of them were trained engineers or industrial procedure people. They were architects, designers, and artists."

Photomontage by Herbert Matter for *Arts & Compages* mag, 1946. © Vitra Design Museum.

"Swiss graphic designer Herbert Matter created this collage in 1946 for a centerfold spread in Arts & Architecture magazine. The commodity that this beautiful image accompanied was a big deal, coinciding with a MoMA exhibition titledNew Furniture by Charles Eames.The article was full of gushy praise. For example it starts, 'There is no need to qualify the statement. Charles Eames has designed and produced the nigh of import group of furniture always developed in this state.' The furniture presented in this exhibition would later be manufactured by Herman Miller but first it was beingness made by the Evans Product Company in California, the company that the Eames Office had partnered with to develop splints for the navy."

*DCW (Dining Chair Wood)* chair photographed exterior of the Eames Office, 901 Washington Boulevard, Venice, California, c. 1946. © Eames Office LLC.

"An epic shot of the DCW (Dining Chair Wood) photographed outside the Eames part in Venice, California in 1946. This would have been just earlier Herman Miller took over production of the chair. Information technology's a very triumphant paradigm. At the time it hadn't fifty-fifty been mass produced yet, but according to Eliot Noyes it was already the most of import piece of furniture ever developed in this state."

Ray and Charles Eames with "La Chaise" paradigm, c. 1948. © Eames Office LLC.

"Here's a photo of Charles and Ray goofing around with a prototype of La Chaise which was designed for the "International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design" at the MoMA in 1948. It'due south an extremely sculptural object which has go an icon, but ironically though information technology was designed for the depression-cost furniture design competition, information technology was never low cost. (La Chaise was never sold during Charles and Ray's lifetime because it proved too costly to mass produce and finally went into production in 1990.)"

La Chaise prototype. © Eames Office LLC.

"This image shows the completed image with shadows falling across information technology in a zebra pattern, highlighting the curvature. It'south really like to a tool used now in 3D modeling programs for the same purpose."

Eames Office employees Dick Donges and Keith Hall carry an *Eames Chaise* across the meadow of the Eames Firm, 1969. © Eames Part LLC.

"I dearest this picture of ii employees conveying the Eames Chaiseacross the meadow at the Eames Business firm during a photo shoot in 1969. Information technology'southward really dreamlike."

Charles Eames photographing a *Soft Pad* side chair in the driveway of the Eames Business firm, 1969. © Eames Office LLC.

"This behind the scenes photo of the Soft Pad Chair is from the same shoot. They were using a parachute to create diffused light."

Portrait of Charles Eames. © Eames Part LLC.

"I wanted to put this moving-picture show of Charles Eames in the book just in that location was no identify where it made sense. I call up he has bottle caps on his optics, and it gives you a glimpse into his sense of humor. He looks like a guru!"

Text past Leon Ransmeier every bit told to PIN–Upwardly.