Eames Catalog

        

            

                
				
EC175-8  Eames Office Seating

                
                


                                                                        
1971
                                                
Herman Miller
                                                                                                                        
Loose Cushion Armchair  1971


Tilt-Swivel


Seat height:  17 - 19"


H 31-33"


W 26"


D 28"


Weight  28 lbs.


Naugahyde upholstery, fabric covered cushion, tilt-swivel base


Introduced  in 1971, the Eames Office developed a new upholstery technique for this  new sculptural shape.  It has formed-in-place urethane foam filling.   Quoting from EAMES DESIGN:  "This unique process bonds together the chair's fabric or vinyl  cover, foam core, and outer shell.  The fabric is cut and sewn to size  (except for the vinyl, which has no seams) and then vacuum-drawn into a  mold.  The matching mold is the already formed polyester seat shell. The  molds with the sandwiched fabric are held together by a metal ring  clamped to the shell's contour.  Urethane foam is injected through a  hole left in the seat mold, filling the space between the shell and the  fabric and varying in thickness from 3/4 inch to 3 inches."


As  with other innovations, this foam process, devised for this chair, was  soon adapted to other chairs.  From this point on, all the Eames shell  chairs were upholstered in this manner.


 



                        
                

                

                    

                        

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                           		                           		image copyright / eames office                           

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                                ADDITIONAL NOTES AND IMAGES                            

                            
    
                            

                        

                        

                        

                            

                            

                            

                                                                    

                                        
In  1973,  New York’s Museum of Modern Art published a book, CHARLES EAMES   FURNITURE FROM THE DESIGN COLLECTION - The Museum of Modern Art, New   York, written by Arthur Drexler, Director of that museum’s Department of   Architecture and Design.  Drexler was particularly enamored of this   design, writing:  “Although this chair might appear to be a padded   version of the original 1950 plastic shell, its proportions differ from   that design in two significant ways.


  The back support is 6″ higher and   makes up at least half the height of the entire shell; and the  modelling  of the inside back surface incorporates a reverse curve at  its base,  providing much firmer support.  In addition, the chair’s  proportions are  designed to include a loose seat cushion.”





“Technically,  this chair is among Eames’ most sophisticated and  carefully studied  productions.  Its plastic shell receives a  formed-in-place urethane  foam padding, covered, like the upholstered  side chair, by a vinyl or  fabric skin.  Dents in this material slowly  disappear, the urethane  having a “memory” for its original contours.  A  fabric or leather  covering must be stitched; in vinyl the form is  unbroken by this  distracting detail, and every modulation of its curved  surface is  emphasized.”





“Sleek,  polished,  impeccably detailed, the molded and padded shell of this  chair suggests  the world of aviation.  It also manages to be at once  precise and  voluptuous, and seems to convey as much of the mood or  image of its day  as the plywood furniture did in the ‘forties.”



                                    

                                
                            

                        

                        

                        

                            
    
                            

                        

                    

                

                                                                    
                

            

        

                
        

    

        
        
        

            

            

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