The Eameses

Plywood experiments that transformed industrial design.

Discipline: Industrial Design

The mid-century modern industrial designers, architects, and artists, Charles and Ray Eames were notorious experimenters. Without any complex machinery, they were able to evolve chair design with very crude tools. They built their “Kazam! Machine” as a way to mold plywood. They were trying to find ways to push the medium of wood to create new designs and industrial applications. They made the machine by hinging two-by-four inches pieces of lumber, which were bolted together to withstand the high pressure needed for forming wood. It contained a plaster mold and an inflatable membrane. The device would be bolted together once the wooden strips and glue were sandwiched together against the plaster mold. The Eameses would continuously inflate the membrane with a bicycle pump to keep applying pressure. (1)

These experiments lead to a military contract to mass produce lightweight, molded plywood splints for the US Navy. Through the contract, the Eameses were able to perfect their method of molding wood to create stable plywood products. (2) The technique would later be applied to design a whole range of domestic furniture. Including mid-century gems such as the Eames Lounge Chair and their series of Eames Molded Plywood Chairs that Time would applaud as The Best Design of the 20th Century.

References

1. “Kazam! Machine.“ Eames Office. 15 Sept. 2014. Web. 08 July 2017. <http://www.eamesoffice.com/the-work/kazam-machine/>.

2. Griffith Winton, Alexandra. “Charles Eames (1907–78) and Ray Eames (1912–88).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/eame/hd_eame.htm (August 2007)

Originally published at blog.viktorbezic.com.