Continuing our series on mid-century modern design, we spotlight the Eames Shell chair, which features a seat that was moulded to the contours of the human body.
Created by design duo Charles and Ray Eames in the summer of 1949, the Eames chair became hugely influential in a period of mass production across the United States.
Produced by furniture company Herman Miller from 1950, the fibreglass chair presented an innovative furniture typology and has become one of the best-known furniture designs of the twentieth century.
Charles and Ray Eames created the first industrially manufactured plastic chair. Photo courtesy of Vitra
The chair is defined by its organically shaped shell made from glass-fibre-reinforced polyester resin, a type of plastic that the couple started working with after it was developed by the US military. Its seat was moulded to embrace the contours of its user and is raised on a network of steel or wooden legs.
The smooth form of the one-piece seat dips towards the rear, before rising up to form its backrest, which tilts backwards and tapers inwards to cradle the user.
The Shell chair was the latest in a line of chairs designed by Ray and Charles Eames, who met at the Cranbrook Academy of Art before marrying in 1941 and moving to Los Angeles where they established the design studio Eames Office.
The chairs feature shell seats moulded to the contours of a human body. Photo by James Brittain
The duo's first chair was the plywood Lounge Chair Wood, created in...