Charles Eames with his wife Ray Eames, gained international recognitions as designers which included works with buildings, interiors, furniture, rugs, industrial products, as well as by their work in photography, films, and graphics. It is their work that has been an understanding of modern materials and technology tied with a unique design attitude.
“People instinctively recognize the goodness in a sailboat, an axe, an airplane, or a huge dam and, consciously or unconsciously, get from them a feeling of aesthetic satisfaction.... The modern designer tries to refine his work until it contains as much of that goodness as possible. ... In it there is no room for pretense or snobbery or for value results by the costliness of materials used. Certainly the future cannot be considered hopeless as long as designers continue to honor the accomplishment of producing a very inexpensive article that can serve well and bring pleasure....”
Charles Eames was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 17, 1907. He studied architecture at The Washington University, St. Louis, from 1924 to 1926, along with studies working in the local architectural firm of Trueblood and Graf. It is believed that Charles left Washington University due to what he calmed was the lack of imagination he found there.
In 1930 Charles established the firm of Gray and Eames in St. Louis, operating from 1930 to 1936. Because architectural commissions were rare during the Depression, Charles’ work in the 1930s included a wide range of unique projects from furniture, ceramics, and textiles.
In 1936, Charles became the head of the Department of Experimental Design at the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, a legendary design center under the direction of Eliel Saarinen. His employment proved to be one of the most important steps in his career being that it was here that he shaped many of the ideas for his later work as well as a close association with fellow faculty members Eero Saarinen and Ray Kaiser.
The designer Ray Eames was born Bernice Alexandra Kaiser in Sacramento, California, in 1912. With her mother, Ray moved to New York in 1929, where she studied painting at the Art Students League. With the death of her mother, Ray enrolled at the Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she met Charles. Ray soon joined the team contributing to many of the designs by Charles and Eliel. One in particular was the design intended to be submitted to the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition hosted by the MOMA in New York City during that time. The design was an armchair where the seat and back was formed out of a single piece of plywood molded in three dimensions. Although the design proved too complex for mass production, in 1940, Charles and Saarinen established their international reputations by winning the two first prizes for their collaboration of the three-dimensionally molded plywood chair.
During 1940s, it became apparent that Charles developed the seeds of ideas from his years at Cranbrook for work in a wide range of mediums. Stated later, It was his "habit of approach," from which Charles believed could be apply virtually any creative field, to enabled him to excel in diverse areas with succeeding standards. Applying his creative methods, Charles found that first he needed to make a detailed layout of the specific problem to which then he could determine the technology most applicable for the solution.
"….designers may so prepare themselves that they can approach any problem with the least possible loss of energy no matter how new to them its requirements or materials…"
By 1941 Charles had divorced his first wife to marry his colleague Ray after which the couple moved to Los Angeles. Here the two worked in the art department of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and found and experience that soon led to set designs by Charles for MGM Studios during which Ray worked as a graphic designer for "Art & Architecture Magazine." The two continued to experiment in their apartment with presses that later contributed to what they called the "Kazam! Machine," a plywood folding method. A year later Charles and Ray established the Plyformed Wood Company and designed and built plywood molds for the US Navy, which resulted in the famous series of furniture concepts for Herman Miller. Unfortunately due to financial difficulties the Eames were forced to sell their business to the Evans Product Company, where Charles would soon became head of the research and development division.
During 1945, Charles entered the Case House Study Program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, then under the editorship of John Entenza. The program was an experiment in which a group of architects were commissioned to create cost effective housing with ordinary industrial materials from a catalog. This however soon became the foundation for Charles’ international reputation as an architect. The experiment spanned 20 years and encompassed 36 projects, 22 of which were actually constructed. One of which was the Eames's own residence, Case House No. 8, which was a series of economical spaces and outdoor enclosures on a cliff overlooking the ocean in Palisades, California. The elegant industrial-style home created through techniques like that of factory construction was fabricated with exposed steel frames and an abstract facade formed by a grid work of steel. The Eames's house is considered to be one of the major precursors of today's high-tech buildings.
Charles never attempted to create universal spaces or allowed his designs to be controlled by the demands of production. Instead Charles considered the industrial style as the finish in itself, which allowed for a gentle, residential theme from industrial materials. Built with energy-saving technology, the house could be built quickly from a minimum amount of materials. Taking full advantage of a southwest-facing slope, the partially buried structure was cooled by natural cross-ventilation and shaded by a deep roof overhang and groove of eucalyptus trees.
The interior, as well, encompasses the Eames aesthetic, in which the home serves as a container for the everyday objects of its inhabitants. Charles frequently arranged ordinary objects in opposition to objects of high art that expressed his respect and understanding for the integrity of these objects. It was this style that became the Eames's design sensibility displayed around the world. At its social base, their home is structured for two adults combining a pair of buildings that provides enough privacy for each person to function in a lifestyle in which the home and work are unified. Charles admiration for Frank Lloyd Wright is also apparent in his respect for nature, oriental design quos, and an open presence of space and form.
Along with an international reputation, the Eames left behind a series of chairs produced over a period of 30 years. Their designs range from shells of formed fiberglass and plywood to forms in down and leather.
It was work that remained the center of their lives with working days running from 9 am to 10 pm, until Charles' death in 1978. Ray later noted that she worked hard to complete any unfinished projects but never sought new ones. She devoted the rest of her life to establishing their ideas through writings and lectures. On August 21, 1988 Ray Eames died of cancer, ten years to the day after Charles.
We often times forget the "proper" usage of how to use are utensils. "Where does the fish spoon go? What is a salad fork?" Although in today's society of couch potatoes and thousand dollar home entertainment systems, what use to be "proper" etiquette has vastly changed from the days of mom and pops. No longer are families sitting in front of each other at the diner table, but now sitting next to each other face to face with the tube. 
What did you do today? Well, if the high point of your Sunday involved eating a hungry man TV dinner and watching cartoons in front of the tube, then the new Lazy Sunday Pants should fit perfectly for the family. The Spanish studio Mitemite introduces its latest Unnecessary Object. The design features a handy pocket for your TV remote and a removable lap tablecloth that easily accommodates your average microwave cuisine. Unfortunately for the lazy, these pants are only concepts at the moment. 
