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Having lived in several different cities during her tender age, Ray Eames was born in Sacramento, California then moved to New York in 1933. This is where she first studied abstract painting with Hans Hoffman that eventually led her to furniture designing later on. Ray Eames began her studies at the Canbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan towards the end of 1940 where she eventually met her husband to be Charles Eames. They both had similar career options and were married the following year and settled in Los Angeles, California.
Ray Eames and her husband Charles led an exemplary career in design as well as architecture. Both Ray and Charles Eames now feature in the new series “By Architects”. It is an innovative project whose main objective is to highlight objects as well as furniture designed by some of the most acknowledged architects of the 20th century.
Ray Eames along with her husband Charles are best known for their contributions to industrial design, film, photography , and furniture design especially the Eames chair, as well as architecture. After getting married in 1941, they both moved to California. Its here their furniture design career in moulded plywood all began. Earlier on, both Ray and Charles found the need to come up with high quality furniture and yet affordable.
For many years, the Eames' tried different ways to meet this challenge. They designed chairs used in all kinds of places ranging from collapsible sofas for homes, chairs for airports, stadiums, schools as well as offices. Most of these chairs were designed in four materials for Herman Miller. They were designed in cast aluminium, bent and welded wire mesh, as well as fibreglass-reinforced plastic.
According to Ray Eames, the main issue was to look for a seat and back form that comfortably supports the human body using flexible materials instead of cushioned upholstery or three dimensionally shaped surfaces. According to Ray Eames, what works is better than what looks good since what works, works, but what looks good can change.
The immediate concern Ray Eames had was to come up with not only a single shell that would be comfortable without cushions, but could also be mass-produced. This concept was experimented with the Eames' along with their colleagues throughout the early 40s. The Eames' developed chairs for the museum of modern arts using organic designs.
Ray Eames along with her husband's fibreglass chair solved the problem of making a seat out of a single body-fitting shell. It became even more alluring to the Eames' than plywood with the progressive quality as well as the mobility of the fibreglass material compared to stamped metal or plywood.
Zenith Plastics had used fibreglass to reinforce plastic on airplane radar domes that turned out to be a big success. The Eames' and Zenith re-conceptualized the use of the fibreglass material that created one of the very first one-piece plastic chairs that had an exposed surface rather than the upholstered surface.
They say that your life reflects your work, and this can never be truer with an esteemed and renowned designer like Eero Aarnio. His life and times have reflected his work, thanks to his passion and his love for safe types of plastic. All of his work has been made from friendly materials, and even though he has worked with traditional materials like steel and wood, he has been famous for using playful shapes and colours that are manufactured in plastic, including toys and children's furniture.
Eero Aarnio studied from 1954 to 1957 at the Institute of Industrial Arts. After his graduation, he worked with a famous and also well renowned Finnish designer IImari Tapiovaara. In 1960 he started working for the Asko Company before deciding to go alone as an industrial and interior designer and establishing his own design office in 1962.
In 1966, Eero Aarnio designed and introduced his Globe Chair to the market. This chair won the approval of many design presses, irrespective of it being expensive and that it was formed on a limited extent.
Because of how the Globe Chair had won the acclaim of many people, the Asko Company that he had previously worked for requested Eero Aarnio to be its limited partner. The term of their limited partnership was that he was supposed to use new materials and modes of production to design experimental furniture.
Thanks to the new partnership, Eero Aarnio's professional image grew so much during that time and contributed significantly to his being famous in the world. At that time, many Finnish designers worked with wood, but what made Eero Aarnio stand out was his working with plastics. His main idea was to create new designs at very low cost use materials that were up-to-date. Another thing that inspired him to create the new design was that he wanted his designs to be both striking and durable.
In 1970, Eero Aarnio started using Polyurethane foam in his creation of new designs. The Pony chair that was introduced on the market in 1970 is one such example. This has been one of the most extraordinary chairs in the history of furniture of the 20th century. This chair has distinguished so much of Eero Aarnio's work. Eero Aarnio's work has always been known to be an inspiration to many, and he is always quoted as saying that ‘design means constant renewal, realignment and growth'.
This is probably the reason why each piece of his work has always stood out from the rest and always outshines the work of other designers.
In 2005, Eero Aarnio joined another Finnish company Artek as a freelance designer. His outstanding work has always taken him places and earned him many offers from established companies around the world. Eero Aarnio is admired by many Finnish companies, and envied by many designers all over the world. His work has been through many generations, and the generations are yet to see the best of him.