Charles (American, 1907–1978) and Ray Eames (American, 1912–1988) were designers most well known for their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, and furniture and industrial design and manufacturing. They are best remembered for their mid-century modern furniture, built from innovative materials, including molded plywood, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, and bent metal wire and aluminum, which offered consumers beautiful, functional, and inexpensive products.

Charles Eames was born in St. Louis, MO, and attended school there, where he developed an interest in engineering and architecture. After studying at Washington University in St. Louis on scholarship for two years and being thrown out for his advocacy of Frank Lloyd Wright, he began working in an architectural office. In 1930, Charles started his own architectural office. He quickly extended his design ideas beyond architecture, and received a fellowship to Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he eventually became head of the Design Department.

Ray Kaiser Eames was born in Sacramento, CA. She studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York before going to Cranbrook Academy, where she met and assisted Charles and Eero Saarinen in preparing designs for The Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Furniture Competition. Eames’s and Saarinen’s designs, created by molding plywood into complex curves, won them the two first prizes.

Charles and Ray got married in 1941, and moved to California, where they continued to design furniture. During World War II, they were commissioned by the United States Navy to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers, and experimental glider shells. In 1946, Evans Products began producing the Eames’s furniture. Their molded plywood chair was called “the chair of the century” by the influential architectural critic Esther McCoy. Production was then taken over by Herman Miller, Inc., which continues to produce the furniture in the United States today.

In 1949, Charles and Ray designed and built their own home in Pacific Palisades, CA, as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine. Their design and innovative use of materials made the house a destination for architects and designers. Today, it is considered one of the most important Post-War residences in the world.