Charles & Ray Eames, Herman Miller & Bath

Posted on 03 Oct, 2023

Introduced in 1956, the Eames Lounge Chair was designed by the American designers and married couple, Charles and Ray Eames. We used to sell a good reproduction of it back in our early days in Bartlett Street. Constructed with a moulded veneered plywood shell (usually rosewood), and with leather cushions attached by metal brackets, it was, apparently, inspired by the traditional English club chair, although being considered an instant modern classic, it has a permanent spot on display in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

The Eamses wanted the chair to have "... the feeling of a well used baseball mitt" and it is still being made today by Herman Miller and Vitra. In fact, the Eames Lounge Chair & Ottoman were being made at the Herman Miller factory in Bath until it was converted in to Bath Spa University's School of Art, Film and Media, and, very suitably, the Bath School of Design ! We remember a retired Herman Miller worker coming in to Bartlett Street to discuss the construction differences between the Herman Miller original and our Italian reproduction. She was fascinated by the rubber mountings !