90s Charles & Ray Eames ‘DSR’ dining chair for Vitra set/4
The so-called Eiffel Tower base of the DSR (Dining Height Side Chair Rod Base) chair consists of a complex and elegant steel wire construction, combined with light, elegant shapes with structural strength. The organically shaped plastic shell was supplied in various color and coating options.
The design of the DSR dates back to 1950 and comes from the successful duo Charles & Ray Eames.
Born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri, Charles Eames studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and designed a number of homes and churches in collaboration with several partners. His work caught the attention of Eliel Saarinen, who offered him a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1938.
Ray studied painting at Bennett College in Millbrook, New York and continued her studies in painting at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts until 1937. In that year she also took part in the first exhibition of abstract American artists at the Riverside Museum in New York. In 1940 she enrolled at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Charles and Ray Eames married in 1941 and moved to Los Angeles, where they began experimenting together with three-dimensional plywood bending techniques. With the aim of creating chairs that were affordable. However, the war interrupted their work and instead Charles and Ray focused on designing and developing plywood leg splints for the United States Navy. In 1946 they exhibited their experimental furniture designs at the MoMA. After that, the Herman Miller Company in Zeeland, Michigan began to produce the Eames furniture. Charles and Ray entered the MoMA’s ‘Low-Cost Furniture’ competition in 1948 and built the Eames House as their own private residence in 1949. In addition to their work in furniture design and architecture, they also regularly experimented with graphic design, photography, film and the design of exhibitions.
In 1957, Vitra signed a licensing agreement with Herman Miller and the company began producing the Eames duo’s designs for Europe and the Middle East. Charles died in 1978 and Ray exactly 10 years later in 1988. The “Eames Office” is still managed by the Eames family, who carefully watch over the preservation and further development and production of Eames designs.
The DSR is therefore even in production today, while at the same time all DSR chairs from before the turn of the century are highly sought after as the classic among design enthusiasts.
