Eames Lounge Chair Wood | Designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller®
Simplicity, as it relates to product development, is confusing. Most days I’m seemingly faced with the dilemma of designing something simple to use or simple to make. On the other days, I labor to resist the sirens of simple visuals that look great but doesn’t function well. I’m not sure what “simple” means anymore.
Oddly, I’ve always gained clarity about my work from studying the furniture design process and the Eames Lounge Chair Wood (LCW) is one of my favorite examples to review. LCW is the iconic plywood molded chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames, a husband and wife team. It was first introduced in 1946 as the affordable everyday chair but it is now considered art and is a collector's item. I turned to the couple and the LCW to better understand simplicity.
“Simple" is always one of the words used when describing the Eames LCW. I remember my desk chair during elementary school looking like it. It’s not a vivid memory but it is recallable. The chair looked neat and it was comfortable but I didn't think it was anything special at the time. I guess I took the chair for granted because it was ubiquitous and it did what all chairs are supposed to do without any extraordinary features that drew attention to it.
The office chair I sit on now is complicated with numerous buttons and toggles for adjustments and a mesh backing that is supposed to catch the shape of my back while also providing the proper support. It’s designed this way for the penultimate customization and ergonomic comfort but I’m not so sure it’s much of an improvement from the LCW. I recently had a chance to sit in the LCW again but this time with a profound awareness. The molded plywood is extremely comfortable. It hugged my body just as it did back in my elementary school class. And the design is organic and beautiful; when it’s not being used as a chair, it’s art that can embellish a bare room. The chair at its debut cost $25, which is about $310 in today’s dollars. Comparatively, my office chair is about $2,100. It’s amazing to me that a simple wooden chair designed more than 75 years ago can contend with today’s design in form, function, and value.
“the simple one of getting the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least.”
Ironically, the simplicity of the LCW that we’ve come to know and respect was anything but simple to create. Charles and Ray Eames painstakingly experimented with the construction of a special machine that molded plywood, called the Kazam. It was a slow, long, and arduous process as the early versions did not produce great results. Once the Kazam was perfected, an exhaustive cycle of prototyping and testing ensued to mold the first Eames LCW. Their method of design involved countless iterations to perfect the details that would ergonomically and comfortably suit most body types. They even invented rubber shock mounts for the chair to buffer against jarring movements. The use of plywood and the commitment to developing the Kazam were intentional so their products would be affordable to the masses. Plywood was cheap and readily available. The Kazam’s stamping action to mold the plywood was consistent and scalable. Charles Eames liked to say his job is "the simple one of getting the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least.”
Time magazine hailed it as the best design of the 20th century; not the best chair or furniture design but the best design. The humble desire to create the best chair for the lowest cost coupled with the grit to optimize every detail birthed one of the most widely recognized and highly coveted chairs. The chair is still produced today using the same method that was used to create the first one in 1946. It’s a timeless masterpiece that cannot be improved.
I’m compelled to think that simple should always be about the optimal function and form to the user, even if it means that everything else is not so simple.