Charles and Ray Eames

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In 1940, Charles Eames met and began working with Ray Kaiser, who was then studying painting with Hans Hofmann. Eames and Kaiser were married in 1941. They moved to California, where they set up "The Office of Charles and Ray Eames". Charles Eames designed movie sets, and the Eameses did research in the uses of plywood, continuing when, in 1943, Charles became director of research and development for the West Coast operations of the Evans Products Company.

The Eames design firm became best known for mass-producible but elegant furniture and influenced furniture and industrial design for four decades. Together the Eameses became involved in architectural projects, product design, film production, and exhibits.

In 1946 the Museum of Modern Art invited Charles Eames to be the first designer to have a “one-man” exhibition of his furniture designs. The exhibition was highly successful, and the Herman Miller Furniture Company soon began mass production of their moulded plywood furniture. The Eameses’ house, built in 1949 in Pacific Palisades, California, was outstanding for its elegant use of factory-produced elements.

After Charles’s death, Ray Eames continued to work on various design projects.