Charles & Ray Eames, DAW chair for Vitra

CHARLES EAMES (USA, 1907 - 1978) & RAY EAMES (USA, 1912 - 1988) for VITRA Editor.
DAW chair, 1948 model.
White polypropylene shell and original base with dark brown pegs.
Made by Vitra, with label.
The chair has minimal marks.
Measurements: 83 x 62 x 60 cm, seat height: 45 cm.

Charles and Ray Eames designed the DAW (Dining Height Armchair Wood Base) chair in 1950 as part of their famous "Plastic Chairs" collection. Produced by Vitra, the Eames plastic chairs are the first mass-produced plastic chairs in the history of furniture, and today they are available with various seats and frames, making them multifunctional and versatile. The combination of the wood base with the plastic shell of the DAW chair offers a rich contrast of materials.

"Getting more of the best for more people for less" is the motto of husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames, designers whose architectural innovations contributed to the advancement of furniture, design and industrial manufacturing. Charles and Ray Ames, a husband and wife artistic couple, worked in the fields of industrial and graphic design, fine art and film, and are responsible for numerous designs that have become classics of the 20th century. They were pioneers in the use of new techniques and materials such as fiberglass or plastic resin for the manufacture of chairs, and their creations can be seen in the Design Museum in London and the MoMA in New York, among many others.After the design crisis of the sixties, arising from the controversy over functionalism, in the seventies a pluralism of theories and methodologies of design arose, and thus the search for new and varied orientations that continues to this day. With the economies recovering from the devastation of World War II, new fun-seeking consumers emerged. On the other hand, the pop aesthetics that favored the disposable and the temporary led to a change in designers, many of whom surrendered to passing fashions and the market. During these years, designers became aware of their profession and, while architects were discussing the validity of a style, designers were thinking about the oil crisis, the cost of plastics and society's interest in the environment. It was then that design became independent of architecture, resuming its social function and its relationship with industry.