The first Eames fiberglass chair

Photograph by Craig Hodgetts
from his website http://www.hplusf.com/

Hand made by John A. Wills for Charles Eames, based on a paper mache model which Charles brought to Wills.  Wills made only two, see my previous entry for the whole story:
http://www.thehistoryofeamesfurniture.com/2010/05/real-story-of-eames-fiberglass-chair.html


This one is now in the permanent collection of The Henry Ford Museum.


http://www.hfmgv.org/museum/index.aspx


Found in 1999 by Craig Hodgetts, designer of the landmark Library of Congress exhibition


http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/


THE WORK OF CHARLES AND RAY EAMES:  A LEGACY OF INVENTION, and here's the Library of Congress blurb on that exhibition:


"Charles Eames (1907-78) and Ray Eames (1912-88) gave shape to America's twentieth century. Their lives and work represented the nation's defining social movements: the West Coast's coming-of-age, the economy's shift from making goods to the producing information, and the global expansion of American culture. The Eameses embraced the era's visionary concept of modern design as an agent of social change, elevating it to a national agenda. Their evolution from furniture designers to cultural ambassadors demonstrated their boundless talents and the overlap of their interests with those of their country. In a rare era of shared objectives, the Eameses partnered with the federal government and the country's top businesses to lead the charge to modernize postwar America."


This 1949 chair, on the original metal container on which it was found in Wills' California studio,  was first put on public display in the Library of Congress exhibition.