Interior Design Classics – The Eames Lounge Chair

Still selling in large numbers to this day, the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman were first launched in 1956 after having been in development for years by Charles and Ray Eames. They became instant design classics and were the first chairs that the Eames brothers designed for the higher end of the market. They were made of leather and molded plywood and examples of the originals can now be found in the Permanent Collection at the New York MOMA.

The chairs are put together using three plywood curved shells – in the original chairs the shells were constructed using Brazilian rosewood veneers which were glued together from five layers of plywood – the modern chairs use 7 thin layers which are glued together under heat and pressure.

The chairs first drew attention when they appeared on the Arlene Francis Home Show in 1956 and have been popular ever since. Since being introduced by the furniture company Herman Miller in America in the late fifties they have been in production constantly ever since. These days there are a number of copies that are on the market – some are direct knockoffs and others claim to be just ‘influenced’ by the originals. Either way there can be no doubt that the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman is an interior design classic.

Alex is a journalist and blogger. He writes on everything from finance to design and writes a consumer blog for Coupon Croc .