The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention

by Donald Albrecht and Beatriz Colomina

Book Overview

Charles and Ray Eames gave shape to America's twentieth century. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Los Angeles-based husband-and-wife team practiced design at its most virtuous and its most expansive: their furniture, toys, buildings, films, graphics, exhibitions, and books all aimed to improve society - not only functionally but also culturally and intellectually. While designers with a social mission are now regarded with some skepticism, in the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810927527
• ISBN13: 9780810927520
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: ABRAMS
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Modern Design @ it's best!!

Words don't do justice to the work & imagination of Ray & Charles Eames! This is a beautiful book covering the creative minds of two of the best modern furniture designers. Filled with great pictures, & very complete text of their design & the many other things they created besides furniture.The Eames' are my biased favorite, if you love modern 50's furniture,fabric, & art you must have this book.They worked for the infamous Herman Miller company, who has reissued many of the Eames furniture pieces available again today.As creator of the modern molded fiberglass chair, & molded plywood, the Museaum Of Modern Art has Charles' chairs as Art, which they are & comfortable too!More than comparable to their Danish counterparts,this couple brought us sleek,smooth lined furniture that will take us into the space age for at least another fifty years!(check out A.I.-incredible backgrounds of modern furniture!)

Everything Eames

This is a wonderful addition to any coffee table! I learned so much about this creative couple that I never knew before. The pictures are A+ & very well done. If you are a fan of Eames furniture, you cannot live without this book!!

Founders of a Profession

The Eamses were innovators in many fields such as Architecture, furniture design, film, etc. But to my mind their gretest acheivement was the definition of a new profession, 'Graphic Design', or as I beleive they called it, a 'Design Office'.Up till then, there was 'Commercial Art', and 'Art Departments', and whatever styling was applied to an industrial product was done as an afterthought, and usually by an amateur.After The Eamses, a new recognition that the design of appearances was a craft and a profession, and not just an art, was born.This book demonstrates in many ways, how Ray and Charles Eames applied this and many other insights to the various fields of endeavor that they entered and changed forever.

There is culture in LA!

As a kid growing up I wasn't so crazy about the modernism that the Eames represented - but as an adult in a post-modern society you can really see their charm and warmth. This books reads like a history of visual design for the later half of the 20th Century. Charles and Ray did it all - industrial design, architecture, graphics, film and of course furniture. Long before multimedia was a buzzword, these two were making magic. I only wish that the book has some of the more charming details of their lives (the Smithsonian exhibit actually had their Christmas cards). But all in all, this is a fantastic read...

The bible for Eames lovers!

This is a wonderful book. I have Eames furniture and love it, but only a small part of this book is about the furniture. This book discusses the art, architecture, films, "multimedia" pieces, and more created by Charles and Ray Eames. There are short tributes from coworkers, friends, and luminaries like Robert Venturi at the end. A great book!