"The Multi-Dimensional World of Ray & Charles Eames"

Los Angeles Times HOME Magazine cover story

November 21, 1976

Coordinated by Annette Del Zoppo, who worked for Charles and Ray Eames for nine years, from 1961 - 1970.

Written by Dan McMasters

Photographs by Charles Eames

Excerpt: "The starting point of any story about the Eameses should be the extraordinary nature of their partnership. Charles, with his Marlboro Country look, is the one who gets photographed. He is eminently quotable. He makes the rare public appearances and deals with clients. Ray stays in the background and is rarely quoted on anything. So the patronizing assumption is that while he creates she looks after the books and sees that he eats the right things.

Well, it's not so. Their roles will never be precisely defined, but Charles says quite simply, "Anything I can do, she can do better." An old friend of theirs, Billy Wilder, says, "She's imbued with absolutely perfect taste. She is also, I think, a very good organizer; she's much less of a dreamer than Charles is."

Around the office they say that Ray has the last word, that no project goes out without her approval. She refines the details, but with a complete understanding of the concept. Their partnership is genuine, mutually reinforcing and all the more remarkable for having endured 35 prodigious years."