Monday, December 26, 2016

Christmas Cards sent to Charles and Ray Eames

These Christmas cards are from the Library's nearly 1,000,000-item collection of photographs drawings, films, slides and manuscripts from Charles and Ray. The Eameses saved hundreds of cards (see herefrom friends, family and colleagues -- some among the greatest artists and designers of our time. 

Harry Weese


Robert Osborn

Toshihiro Katayama

     Sister Corita Kent

Monday, December 19, 2016

Monday, December 12, 2016

Industrial designer recreates the Eames shell chair in wood

Tasked by Wisconsin furniture manufacturer Wooda with creating a chair, industrial designer Tucker Viemeister recreated Charles and Ray Eames 1950s Molded Fiberglass Side Chair in a log. This combination of a traditional raw material with new technology and CNC-machining challenges the notion that a design must be unique. “All designers feel challenged to create a great chair—but why? There are so many good ones already. What can the designer offer? What is new?” asked Viemeister in a statement.
When Viemeister responded to Wooda’s request for a new chair design with a photoshopped photo of a log with an Eames chair carved into it, founder Terry Sweeney was intrigued. He collected three eight-foot oak logs from a nearby forest and input the surface mesh metrics into a CNC-milling machine. The machines ground the end of the logs to a 21-inch-diameter, 17-inch-high seat using a process similar to a pencil sharpener. The rest of the log was left natural to further jar the eye as it tries to reconcile the iconic design in a wholly new medium. “The form is so engraved in our cultural memory that the slightest violation of line or curve stands out like fingernails on a chalkboard,” said Viemeister, whose clients include Corning glass, the National Zoo, Coca-Cola, Cuisinart, Apple, OXO, Toshiba, and many others. Wooda had initially reached out to the industrial designer because it wanted to connect its abundant access to raw materials, space, and technology with innovative ideas and fresh aesthetics.


Read all at archpaper.com (thanks for sharing).
Ph: courtesy Tucker Viemeister




























Monday, December 05, 2016

A Lost Snippet of Eames'"Think", Found in a Home Movie Shot in 1964

Robert Anen, a second-year graduate student in New York University's Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) MA program, made a discovery during his summer 2016 internship at Indiana University (IU) Libraries that will help the Library of Congress restore a landmark multimedia production.
"Think" (1964) by Ray and Charles Eames was shown across 22 multi-sized screens at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. According to the Eames' website, "visitors were lifted 53 feet" into the IBM Pavilion's Ovoid Theater to view Think, which "explored problem-solving techniques for issues both commonplace and complex."
The New York World’s Fair introduced computer technology to millions of visitors, particularly at the IBM Pavilion. Rachael Stoeltje, director of IU Libraries’ Moving Image Archive, describes what these pavilion visitors might have experienced. "Think was more than innovative, it was historic. It intermixed motion pictures and slide projections with a live emcee.”
Now, more than 50 years later, a newly discovered home movie in the Edward and Naomi Feil Collection at IU Libraries’ Moving Image Archive is helping the Library of Congress bring Think back to life.


Read all at: nytimes.com
The multi-sized screens at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair (ph.credits: EamesOffice).