"Eames: Beautiful Details" celebrates the seamlessness and fluidity in
which Charles and Ray Eames operated as both a husband and wife team and
as designers unrestricted by traditionally professional boundaries.
Select details of their life and work, from their refined designs to
their innovative experiments, and even including images depicting the
everyday poetic moments of their lives, and are shared here in this
exhibit within a book. Inspired by Charles's immersive and original
slideshows, in which he expertly selected and grouped images together
that communicated information in an aesthetic, direct, and accessible
way, this book strives to visually create the Eameses' life and work by
taking the viewer through a delightful journey, focusing on their
""beautiful details."" The packaging design of the "Eames: Beautiful
Details" slipcase is a pattern inspired by the triangles and colors of
one of their most inventive, if lesser known, designs for children,
simply called, ""the toy."" It also pays homage to the patterns they
used on their well loved House of Cards. The Eameses brought a sense of
humor and joy to everything they created, and the design and layout of
the book aims to convey that spirit in a visual feast for the eyes. It
is a testament to the Eameses and the lasting value of good design that
their Eames lounge chair, created in 1956, endures today as perhaps the
most recognizable and coveted piece of mid century furniture design.
Their experiments in technological innovations, like molded plywood and
fiberglass, resulted in such classic pieces as the bent plywood LCW and
DCM Chairs, the Molded Plastic Chairs, and the Aluminum Group; all of
which are still in production by Herman Miller. Likewise, Charles and
Ray designed and built their own home in 1949 in Pacific Palisades, and
it is still revered as a landmark of modern architecture. Built as part
of the Case Study program in California, sponsored by Arts &
Architecture magazine, it was one of the earliest experiments in pre fab
construction, using off the shelf industrial parts. But unlike the
austerity of much of modern architectural design, their factory like
shell was lovingly lived in along with their personal collections of
folk art, treasures from their travels, and everyday objects
refreshingly displayed with affection and without pretense. In
exhibition design as well, ""Mathematica: A World of Numbers ... and
Beyond, 1961,"" for IBM is considered groundbreaking as an interactive,
educational, and experiential way to communicate the wonder and magic of
math. Similarly, their seminal film, Powers of Ten, 1977, expresses the
mathematical concept of multiplying to the tenth power, in a very
direct, simple, and powerful way. Unlike any other book previously
published on Charles and Ray Eames, this unique monograph is a visual
celebration of their work and life, and was created in true
collaboration with Charles's grandson, Eames Demetrios, and other
members of the Eames family.
