Plastic chairs: legendary chairs

"Making the best for the most, for the least" is how Charles and Ray Eames, furniture designers, described one of their main aims. Of all their creations, none more so than, the Plastic Chairs enabled them to come close to achieving their goal. 
Charles Eames worked as an engineer for the U.S. Army. After the war, he came up with the idea of designing furniture using a material that, until then, had only been used in aeronautics: fibreglass-reinforced polyester resin. Initially used to reinforce aircraft radars, the resin would guarantee Eames a place in history books. In 1942, taking advantage of new moulding/folding techniques, he used the material to create a shell with the aim of making designer furniture. Thus were born, the plastic chairs and armchairs of Charles and, his wife, Ray Eames.

The Plastic Chair was unveiled at the "Low-Cost Furniture Design" competition held by the New York Museum of Modern Art. Its organic and fluid lines earned it immediate success and millions of copies would go on to be produced!
The Eames Plastic Chair also introduced a new typology of furniture that has since become widespread: multifunctional seats whose shell can be combined with a variety of different legs to suit various purposes.

The seats of the Eames chairs and armchairs are currently made from polypropylene and are available in many colours. They come in countless individual combinations, and are used in the most diverse contexts.
65 years after its first appearance, the Plastic Chair remains resolutely modern and is more designer than ever. Its material, which was innovative at the time, and its shape revolutionised the world of industrial design. Above all, it was the first-ever mass-produced chair, a chair that is now a "legend".