Charles Eames, born 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri, studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and opened his own office together with Charles M. Gray in 1930. In 1935 he founded another architectural firm with Robert T. Walsh. After receiving a fellowship in 1938 from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, he moved to Michigan and assumed a teaching position in the design department the following year. In 1940 Eames became head of the department of industrial design at Cranbrook.
Eero Saarinen, born in 1910 in Kirkkonummi, Finland, as the son of the architect Eliel Saarinen, studied sculpture in 1929 and 1930 at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris before studying architecture at Yale University in New Haven until 1934. A Yale fellowship enabled him to travel to Europe. In 1936, he returned to the USA and worked in his father’s architectural practice and also taught at Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills. It was here that Eero Saarinen met Charles Eames. Together they experimented on new furniture forms and produced the first designs for furniture made from moulded plywood.
In 1940, they submitted the Organic Chair as a joint entry to the “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” competition held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
CHARLES EAMES & EERO SAARINEN
W85 x D67 x H107 cm – Seat height 35.5 cm
W72.5 x D51 x H93.5 cm – Seat Height 42 cm
W72.5 x D56 x H82.5 cm – Seat height 35 cm
Organic Highback
Organic Conference
Organic Chair
Credo fabric – Price group 3
95 % new wool, 5 % polyamide | 640 gr/m2
Credo is a durable woolen fabric made of premium worsted yarn with a pleasant feel. The two- and three-tone colours give this fabric a characteristic structure and vibrant appearance. Credo allows for an effective exchange of heat to ensure comfortable thermal conditions for the sitter. The fabric can also be used in office environments.
Hopsak fabric – Price group 1
100% polyamide | 550 gr/m2
Hopsak is an expressive, flat plain-weave fabric made of polyamide. The duotone colours offer a multitude of design possibilities in high-contrast, brightly hued or subtle combinations of warp and weft threads. Highly durable and robust, Hopsak can be used in private interiors as well as public areas.
Cosy 2 fabric – Price group 2
80 % new wool, 20 % polyamide | 590 gr/m2
Cosy is a milled, plain-weave woolen cloth of high quality with a natural, Nordic-inspired character. The subtly variegated colours and coordinated contrast stitching produce a refined visual effect. The visible fibres enhance the cloth’s natural appearance. Cosy facilitates an optimum heat exchange, which provides pleasant thermal conditions for the sitter.
The Organic Chair – a small and comfortable reading chair – was developed in several versions for the 1940 'Organic Design in Home Furnishings' competition organised by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. With its sculptural shapes, the design was ahead of the times. But due to the absence of suitable manufacturing techniques, the armchair never went into production. Not until 1950 did it become possible to manufacture and market organically shaped seat shells in large quantities, as exemplified by Charles and Ray Eames's famous Plastic Armchair or Saarinen's Tulip Chair.
The Organic Chair is also available in a version with an extended backrest and longer, wider armrests – the Organic Highback armchair. The Organic Conference version can be used as table seating.
Legs are available in natural oak and black stained ash. A large choice of colors is available in Cosy fabric (Home) and Credo fabric (Home and Office).
Organic Chair – Organic Conference – Organic Highback
design Charles Eames & Eero Saarinen, 1940
