"It's sometimes hard to remember a time when Eames furniture wasn't a museum piece, so iconic are its shapes, and so famous its designers. Eames + Valastro: Design in the Life of an American Family offers a different kind of Eames history via an interview about and amateur photographs of nine pieces of Eames, bought by Gladys and Sal Valastro in 1954. Sons James and Kenneth Valastro reminisce about turning a fiberglass rocker into a turtle, surfing a molded plywood coffee table, and sleeping as babies in the drawer of an ESU. Their memories put Eames furniture back into context, as a well-made, forward-looking alternative for a young creative couple and their rambunctious boys. The history that emerges suggests that an interest in design can start with your parents' choice of a cradle." ALEXANDRA LANGE, author of Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes and Writing about Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities.
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Book Description
"How often do you think about furniture? If you're like most people, probably never. When you need to decorate a space, you choose items that look appealing and that fit in your budget-and that's it. And yet, as Dan Ostroff's Eames+Valastro demonstrates, design can have radical implications for how we interact with objects, with other people, even with ourselves. Ostroff offers a fascinating interview with the sons of Sal Valastro, the noted photographer, and Gladys Valastro, designer of the first practical kitchen for people in wheelchairs. With Eames furniture as their building blocks, the Valastros created an entirely new and exciting way to think of the arrangement of domestic space. After you read this gem of a book, you will never take your favorite living room chair for granted ever again." LEORA TANENBAUM, author of Slut!, Catfight, Taking Back God, and Bad Shoes
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Daniel Ostroff has been diligently researching and documenting, in great detail, the rich design contributions of Charles and Ray Eames.
His new book is an essential look at one specific family and the intimate effect of the Eames furniture on their living environment over many years. It is particularly valuable in that it gives the reader an idea of how the Eames' furniture was originally intended, not as products for the Modernist elite but as affordable, functional objects that contribute to a higher quality of life. A brief but most comprehensive and valuable read which adds greatly to the emerging and important Eames lore. We owe a debt of gratitude to Daniel Ostroff for this new contribution to the history of design in America.
R, Roger Remington
Vignelli Distinguished Professor of Design
Rochester Institute of Technology
His new book is an essential look at one specific family and the intimate effect of the Eames furniture on their living environment over many years. It is particularly valuable in that it gives the reader an idea of how the Eames' furniture was originally intended, not as products for the Modernist elite but as affordable, functional objects that contribute to a higher quality of life. A brief but most comprehensive and valuable read which adds greatly to the emerging and important Eames lore. We owe a debt of gratitude to Daniel Ostroff for this new contribution to the history of design in America.
R, Roger Remington
Vignelli Distinguished Professor of Design
Rochester Institute of Technology
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Roux
It takes a producer-curator-historian hybrid to produce a design manifesto that reads like a radio play. I love this book, I recommend this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By JJ Kishel
Amazon Verified Purchase
I often wish that I could hear a retelling of the story that accompanies great collections like this.
This is a great detailed account of the personal history of beautiful pieces of Eames designed furniture.
This is a great detailed account of the personal history of beautiful pieces of Eames designed furniture.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eames+Valastro
What a sweet charming reading! I felt as I was sitting in the living room listening to this amiable conversation . Read more
Published 22 days ago by marina
5.0 out of 5 stars
A PUBLICATION WORTHY OF ITS SUBJECT
Ostroff and his team have created a book as unpretentiously elegant and utilitarian as an Eames design. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Line Cecum
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lovely Little Gem of a Book - Not Just For Design Geeks
Movie producer and Eames scholar Daniel Ostroff has authored a lovely gem of a book about one mid-Century family's collection of Eames furniture. Read more
Published 15 months ago by L.A. Lawyer
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