It has always been aware of not even attempting to solve the problem of how people should sit, but of rather arbitrarily accepting the way people do sit and of operating within that framework. But when ignored, that problem really can knocked ourselves out on the technical aspects—the bonding agents, the impregnation of veneers, integral finishes, high-frequency curing, shock mounts, compounding of rubber, induction welding. Eames chairs actually designed and built within our office all the presses and tools and jigs and fixtures that re used in the original production—this is still the molded plywood chair I’m referring to. The molded plastic chair was much different. The reinforced polyester was a special technique developed for areas that demanded a high-performance material. Essentially this meant the aircraft industry, which could afford big investments for the development of material and tooling. Our object was to make this high-performance material accessible to the consumer in a chair that would ultimately give it a high performance per dollar.
The problem wasn’t so much one of form. The real problem was to make this essentially industrial material available at the consumer level. At first, the Eames chairs had very clear ideas of the kind of surface that wanted to maintain, but eventually realized that anything would do just as long as it was uniform. Uniformity, uniformity and eventually realized that this was what they’re striving for and that actually it was the toughest thing to get. It was in the most desperate hours, when there seemed to be no hope of getting the perfect molding for the reinforced polyester Eames chairs, that the upholstered wire chair was conceived—and in the meantime it began to look as though the thin molded shell really belongs to the jet age. As far as furniture was concerned, and are still at the Wright Brothers level. So, the thought would go to the opposite extreme and do a molded, body-conforming shell depending on many, many connections—but connections that as an industrial society re prepared to cope with on the production level. If you looked around you found these fantastic things being made of wire—trays, baskets, rat traps— using a wire fabricating technique perfected over a period of many years.
Looked into it and found that it was a good production technique and also a good use of material. Before the molded plastic chair had been solved, the molded wire chair was all underway. Meantime, the upholstered wire chair brought with it some real attempts in another direction—towards mass production in upholstery—by fellows in our office. Again, Eames chairs Deutschland at the point where the design and production of even the machinery for making the furniture was being done in our office. Jigs and fixtures for building up the upholstered pads re made and operated in the initial production stage by fellows in our office. This is some of the background in which have to consider the development of the cast aluminum chair. It sounds ridiculously simple, and in that way, it doesn’t seem to make sense. The blood and the pain don’t show. They say in the motion picture industry, “It looks easy on the screen.” all, it sounds too easy on the tape.
Ball chair 