Eames Primer (Architecture/Design Series) [Paperback]

Eames Demetrios (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 2002 | Series: Architecture/Design Series

Imbued with a strong core philosophy, Charles and Ray Eameses' work was very wide-ranging: from architecture and furniture to exhibition design and filmmaking. Eames Demetrios (grandson of Ray and Charles Eames) has written this introduction to their work. He shares anecdotes, previously unpublished photographs, and interviews with friends and colleagues of the Eameses. Also included is a directory of all Eames furniture, the manufacturers of these items through the years, and identification tips for collectors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Charles and Ray Eames were heroes to my generation of designers and I'm thrilled to say have once again become heroes to the present generation. The work of their office in all its variety is amazing and inspirational and demonstrates a real fascination with the detail of life. It is intensely human, charming, and kind. Their grandson, Eames Demetrios (I wish my mother had called me Eames), has documented his grandparents' life in great detail. It makes enthralling reading for any student of 20th-century creativity."--Terence Conran

"From 1942 the Office of Charles and Ray Eames gerw like L.A. itself to a focal center in the widest world of design. This is the fascinating personal account of Charles and Ray and of scores of their talented associates who made it an atelier of our times, creating a charmed house of steel, a dozen museums, a hundred films, and myriad seats that welcome you in airports everywhere. Eames Demetrios sketches how the pair came together and shares experiences from his own childhood on to searching interviews with many articulate insiders, both light-hearted and profound."--Philip and Physlis Morrison

"The Eameses are handsome, they are a couple, they look sexy, smart, and happy. It's almost enough to understand their miracle. They don't create beauty and intelligence, they just transmit what they are. It's easy, coherent. There is a serenity. When they drive a motorcycle, it's to experience balance and the minimum. Every picture gives a clue. They offer us the elegance of their happy rigorness."--Philippe Starck

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Eames Demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray Eames, is the Director of the Eames Office and Gallery in Santa Monica, California. He is an acclaimed filmmaker, writer and lecturer on the work of the Eameses

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (January 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500283206
• ISBN-13: 978-0500283202
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,105,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In December 2008, I was in India at a school in a small village called Sakad, in the tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh about 450 km from Mumbai. I was lucky to be there-- to have persuaded their teacher to let me come and tell stories about and from an alternative universe I have created: Kcymaerxthaere. I call it 3 dimensional fiction. A key component is the roughly 65 physical sites in 10 countries planet-wide so far, honoring events from the parallel world in our linear world.

Anyway, I had wanted to expand on an idea I had tried with other audiences. So I asked the kids to draw the things I was telling them about (I had translated my story into Hindi) and together we created a mural based on the stories from the world. Then we poured and decorated 5 concrete slabs that marked the five vertices of the famous tower in the story--the Eqlmundi Kirwela of Culev Larsze. It was magic. They loved it. I loved it. And now they are part of this fabric stretching around the world. In fact, the shape of the 5 sided slabs echoed ones recently installed in northern Austria. And another part of that particular story is going into southern Chile--and that is only one of many interwoven stories.

Just three days later I was in Ahmedabad, India, giving a talk to the students at India's National Institute of Design, initiated by my grandparents, the designers Charles and Ray Eames, in 1958 (we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the school, which still thrives).

It was an interesting juxtaposition because it sort of captured a certain multivalence in my life. I think we all have a responsibility to our heritage, which is not exactly us, but is part of us, and to our own present and future, which is us, but not only us. So I have pursued a path with many spokes you might say.

I spend time being sure the Eames designs are done right, but, just as important, conveying the beauty of the ideas behind them. The Eames Office, where I am the director, communicates, preserves and extends the Eameses work. This has evolved into many products and partnerships. When we were growing up, my siblings and I learned about design backwards. In other words, we learned what we now know to be design principles and ideas without anyone calling them that by name.

On that point, I am often asked if I always planned to take a role in the Eames legacy. I never gave that path a thought. But as often happens, events take their own path. When my grandmother, with whom I was very close, died, I realized that if we didn't pay attention, things we cared about would slowly drift away. Now the design process itself is a passion of mine. My book, An Eames Primer, is taught in many schools. I have given lectures around the world (including the legendary TED Mainstage) and consult frequently with companies--hoping to persuade them to surrender to their design journey.

On another front, just call me an Exponent of Scale. We've recently finished a DVD called Scale is the New Geography. It includes 10 films. The most important is A Few Tools for Teaching Scale. It walks teachers (broadly construed) through a powerful way of using the classic film Powers of Ten. Their students create their own journey in scale: from the quark to the edge of space. Scale is a key way to organize understanding and experience, and being a good citizen will require it more and more. A few years back, we did a related museum exhibition that traveled around the world--including the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Gulbenkian Institute in Lisbon.

Beyond that, I am a filmmaker--have been forever, professionally since college--loving the process of sharing stories and experiences with people. Some films have specific clients, others not. With clients, I really enjoy helping people understand their own stories better. About 50 films/videos of various lengths. Mostly shorts and documentaries, but not exclusively. Plywood elephants, Frank Gehry and Federico Garcia-Lorca are recent topics, but I have done some features too.

Now back to the beginning. My current large-scale project, Kcymaerxthaere, has been underway for several years. It is kind of like writing a novel and putting every page in a different place. People often ask me if it is virtual. Well, mainly in the sense that language inherently can be. But you can literally, physically visit parts of it. And, though it is visceral, it is also about the space between. Visit these places and experience those words (& forms & images) and it starts to transform your assumptions about seeing and possibilities in the deepest sense--it's also a lot of fun and, I hope, a good story.

There are writings (even a travel guide), video, performances, images, installation, bus tours and more. We did a run last summer at the Edinburgh Fringe. As of October 2009, there are about 65 sites around the planet and another 4 planned by the end of the year. You can visit us on line--a more international version of the site launches in November--but I really hope you visit some of the markers and pHistoric Sites in person.

That about wraps it up. I am Chairman of the Eames Foundation which focuses on the preservation of the Eames House. I have written a few books and given talks in 29 countries so far: topics ranging from design to science, from sustainability to my own work.

I grew up in San Francisco then went away to college, getting a BA from Harvard. Then I moved back to California-- to Los Angeles--to work in the movie business. Worked as an editor, cameraman and soundman for a few years as I started making my own films.

And today, as the expression goes, I live in southern California with my wife and two kids.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Way-it-should-be-ness, May 24, 2003

By 

Mark E. Blunck (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Eames Primer (Paperback)

In 1988, filmmaker Eames Demetrios made the film, 901: After 45 Years of Working, a family record of the closing of the Eames Office shortly after the death of Ray. It was an objective attempt to capture the essence of the studio and design work created by Charles and Ray Eames and their multi-talented staff. Now more than ten years later, Demetrios has again recorded the studio and work in the book, An Eames Primer. The modest title implies an introduction and starting point to all the work of his grandparents but it is much more informative. What makes this book essential reading is the personal nature of the writing, connections, and the concept of "design addressing itself to the need."

Much of this personal nature is expressed in the chapter on the life of Charles Eames and Ray Kaiser before their meeting at Cranbrook, including extensive writing on each family history. This early period of their lives is illustrated by several drawings and paintings by Charles and Ray with each piece exhibiting a pleasing combination of color and form that would later become the hallmark of their work.

Demetrios devotes two pages on the issue of the Eameses signing with either Knoll or Herman Miller for the plywood group. This analysis, which isn't really dealt with in other books, is a rational and logical explanation of Charles and Ray's principles and their main concern about simply marketing a "good chair". For anyone interested in this crucial choice the author has formulated an essential case for the decision to go with Herman Miller.

One of the many highlights of the book is a wonderful collection of color photographs of different objects hanging from the ceiling of the Eames House that is pure aesthetic delight. Also, the bottom right corner of each page serves as a flipbook tour of the expansive 901 Studio.

What must have been an amazing event in film exhibition is Glimpses of the USA at the American Pavilion in Moscow in 1959. The seven-screen presentation of life in the United States shows a cultural identity of amazing diversity and Demetrios explains the process behind the production of this film. In an unbelievable set of circumstances, the American government had given Charles and Ray complete freedom to produce this film at the height of the Cold War with no "final cut" approval from Washington. Several pages also describe the production of the two versions of Powers of Ten. These films required experiments in film technology and camera work and Demetrios fully describes the process. The many contributions of staff members and outside consultants are thoroughly explained.

Throughout the book, many former Eames Office members and consultants describe their experience of working in the studio on the amazing variety of projects. Issues of design attribution are commented upon and examined for several projects.

Two days after finishing the book I retrieved Eames Design and several other excellent books and realized that everything now seemed much clearer after reading Primer. Perhaps Demetrios is correct in giving his work that modest title. The clean and clear connection has been analyzed and described so that it all seems so perfectly obvious. This is an informative educational book written in a casual but serious style and a worthy addition to a personal library.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connected to the Work, June 21, 2005

By 

Tropics Refugee (Middle Fla.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Eames Primer (Paperback)

As you might imagine and the title implies this is a wonderful introduction to the work of the Eames' design office. More importantly it is a warm fun filled story of two wonderful and creative human beings who truly sought to make a difference in the world by living with integrity. I feel they succeeded and I think that anyone who reads this little gem will begin to see the connections that weave all life's little mysteries into a comprehensive story .

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Couple of Designers, January 19, 2003

By 

I. Brynjegard-Bialik "B2" (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Eames Primer (Paperback)

Charles and Ray Eames' lives are documented by their grandson in this fascinating collection of anecdotes, photographs, and excerpts. If you know only a little about this creative couple - their chairs, perhaps, or the House of Cards - read this book to hear about their work with IBM, the government of India, and the Nobel Prize Committee. They have touched al of our lives in some way, making design accessible to the masses, and this book tells their story very well.