So you’re thinking you like the Eames Lounger and it might make a great addition to your home. No doubt Eames Lounge Chairs have a great reputation for durability and comfort, as well as a pretty impressive appearance, but they also have some incredible history behind them.

• Charles Eames and a friend, Eero Saarinen, entered a prototype Eames Lounge Chair in the 1940 New York Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Furniture Competition.

• Saarinen, an architect, and Charles Eames, a furniture designer, where searching for methods to enhance furniture design styles and the technologies used in their creation, to suit the every changing needs of the consumer and the culture at large.

• The first Eames designs incorporated molded plywood, a concept never before utilized in future production, but one that has since gained a major foothold within the furniture industry.

• Eames and Saarinen won the 1940 Organic Furniture Competition and likely would have begun mass production of the Eames Lounger shortly thereafter, had American involvement in World War II not commenced in the midst of production planning.

• During The War, Eames was involved in a U.S. Air Force production project which focused on the creation of durable molded plywood splints. His activities in the project proved quite beneficial to his dreams of creating uniquely designed, comfortable, and high quality lounge chairs through the combination of new technological means and the time proven techniques of handcrafted design methodologies. In working for the U.S. Air Force, Eames was able to perfect his methods for creating molded plywood with complex curvatures.

• The Eames Lounge Chair is the creation of Charles and Ray Eames, a husband and wife design team who successfully combined craftsmanship and technology to foster a revolutionary change in twentieth century furniture design.

• Following the end of World War II, Charles and his wife Ray expanded significantly the design components of the previous prototypes Charles and Saarinen had created. Eames Loungers were among the first chairs to ever include a split back rest capable of bending or responding to the comfort and position of the individual occupying the chair.

• The Eames Lounge Chair was a distinct change in the industry of furniture production. The previous periods of furniture design and creation relied on the inclusion of various materials, components, and fabrics to create comfortable and attractive chair designs. The Eames Lounger brought furniture design to a new level through. The use of technological advances and time honored handcrafting techniques allowed the Eames design team to create high quality, comfortable, and attractive furniture utilizing a minimum of materials in the processes.

• Eames Loungers, especially those of early production designs and prototypes, are highly valued collector items for those interested in modern design.

• The Eames Lounge Chair holds a permanent place in the New York Museum of Modern Art. An entire collection of Eames Loungers and Eames kitchen chairs are continuously on display.