One of Ray and Charles Eames’s earliest plywood designs was this child’s chair molded from a single piece of plywood and dyed red (it was also manufactured in saturated hues of blue, yellow, black and magenta). Cheap, robust and colorful, plywood was well–suited for the Eames’s approach to pragmatic, economical design. And, since plywood is a lightweight material, a child could rearrange the furniture, making it another plaything in the playroom. Like other modernist bentwood designs, the Eames children’s furniture exemplified efficient modern technology and rational production, yet the heart–shape motif on the chair back also signified innocence and sweetness.
Gallery label from Designing Modern Women 1890–1990, October 5, 2013–October 1, 2014.
