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Side view of the Eames Aluminum Group ottoman stretcher. Fabric fit into the side slot in order to be held taut for use.

Cast Ottoman Stretcher

Front view of an Eames Fiberglass side shell in the color “Greige”.

Fiberglass Side Shell

Side view of the Eames 692 Dining Table with round white glass top and cast-aluminum pedestal base.

692 Dining Table

Note and drawing by Charles Eames stating, “Keep Out of the Kazam Please” to warn people not to sit on the Kazam! Machine.

“Keep Out of the Kazam Please” Note

Angled front view of the Eames Marble Top Coffee Table with a marble top, steel and ash dowel legs.

Marble Top Coffee Table

Postcard from the retailer “Bett’s” featuring an Eames LCM chair, a mid-century table, and several decorative accessories.

“This is Bett’s” Postcard

Front view of a pink and purple, paper and bamboo kite that was collected by Charles and Ray Eames.

Patang

Eames La Fonda Restaurant Table Prototype with cast aluminum base and a top covered with decorative Japanese paper.

“La Fonda Restaurant Table” Prototype

Herman Miller postcard featuring 4 Eames chairs, DAX-1, PSC-1 side chair, LCM molded plywood chair, and a fiberglass DSR.

“Chairs Designed by Charles Eames” Postcard

Postcard featuring the dining room of The Nut Tree filled with Eames chairs, Alexander Girard draped textiles, and patrons.

Western Dining at the Nut Tree (Variant 1) Postcard

Side view of a colorful toy boat made of wood, paper, and metal with the word “Alarm” in red at the boat’s bow.

“Alarm” Toy Boat

Front view of an Eames Fiberglass shell in the color “Parchment”.

Fiberglass Side Shell

Front view of a purple paper and bamboo kite with pink triangle shapes that was collected by Ray and Charles Eames.

Patang

Postcard of St. Mary’s church, designed by Charles Eames, including the altar, a mural, and colorful stained glass windows.

St. Mary’s Church at Christmas Postcard

Postcard of the CIty Palace in Jaipur, India, sent by Ray Eames to her sister- and brother-in-law in 1970.

City Palace Jaipur Postcard

A label for the Molded Plywood Division at the Evans Products Company which was created to be attached to Eames products.

Splint Label for Evans Products Company

1946 House & Garden magazine features the Eames Child’s Chair on their Christmas cover, among other gift items.

House & Garden magazine, November 1946

Rebus Christmas card by Charle Eames, using a combination of pictures and individual letters to represent words and phrases.

Rebus Christmas Card

Top down view of the Eames ET151 Segmented Base Table top, with walnut veneer and rounded corners.

ET151 Segmented Base Table

Fashion drawing by Ray Eames of a yellow dress with a patterned black and yellow jacket.

Fashion Drawing: Yellow Day Dress with Black and Yellow Jacket

Top down view of a black and orange bird kite made from paper, ink, string and bamboo.

Black Bird Kite

Front view of an Eames Fiberglass shell test sample for the color crimson with tape on the edges.

Fiberglass Side Shell

Scale study in graphite and color pencil on paper for the Plyformed Wood Company Logo by Ray Eames.

Scale Study for Plyformed Wood Company Logo

Postcard of the 1964 New York World’s Fair IBM Pavilion featuring steel “trees” encircling a large “egg” shaped theatre.

“Above the Canopy of a Forest of Steel Trees” Postcard

Front view of a stackable Eames Child’s Chair in birch plywood with black aniline dye and a heart cutout in the chair back.

Child’s Chair

Eames Aluminum Group spreader wood prototype which has a squared off curve and distinct flared bends on either side.

Carved Spreader 3

Herman Miller postcard for the Eames S-73 Sofa with Alexander Girard upholstery, set among paper kites and Eames LTR tables.

“The Sofa by Charles Eames” Postcard

Top down underside view of the Eames ET202 Universal Base table with a round red oak veneer top, aluminum base and casters.

ET202 Universal Base Table

Side view of an Eames Aluminum Group charcoal nylon-coated aluminum armrest in a trapezoid shape with rounded corners.

Cast Armrest 1

Top down view of an Eames Aluminum Group seat cover prototype in black naugahyde with several heat-sealed horizontal grooves.

Seat Cover Prototype

Ray Eames illustration of a blue tea pot and mug with the message, “The Best Tree Tea”.

“The Best Tree Tea” Illustration

Brochure cover for Eames Tandem Seating in black, white, and ochre with a long run of several connected chairs.

Eames Tandem Seating Brochure

Angled front view of the Eames 1675 Table with a round Micarta top and steel and aluminum base.

1675 Table

Side view of an Eames Leather Upholstered Wire Chair Prototype with an aluminum base and steel column.

Upholstered Wire Chair Prototype

Front angled view of the stackable Eames Child’s Stool in birch plywood.

Child’s Stool

Pink package of a House of Cards sample with notes in red by Ray Eames that it be used for printing quality control.

House of Cards Note

Industrie und Handwerk Schaffen neues Hausgerät in USA 1951 Catalog cover featuring drawings by artist Saul Steinberg.

Industrie und Handwerk Schaffen neues Hausgerät in USA Catalog

Front view of the Eames Lounge Chair with brown leather and Brazilian Rosewood.

670, Lounge Chair

Front view of an Eames EC176 Loose Cushion Armchair on casters with an aluminum base and upholstered in red Hopsak textile.

EC176 Loose Cushion Armchair (Casters)

Top down view of the underside of the Eames round molded plywood coffee table, CTM, with metal legs.

CTM (Coffee Table Metal)

Side view of a metal and wood barrel organ with wheels that the Eameses used at their home and office.

Barrel Organ

DSS-TA chair designed by Ray and Charles Eames in red fiberglass with a plywood tablet writing surface and a steel base.

DSS-TA Tablet-Arm Stacking Side Chair

Vertical box mock-up by Ray Eames featuring multicolored rectangles containing letters spelling out House of Cards.

House of Cards Mock-up Process (Box 1)

Front view of a yellow Eames Fiberglass Side Shell.

Fiberglass Side Shell

Front view of a prototype of the Eames Soft Pad Armchair on a Drafting Chair Base with casters and tan upholstery.

Eames Soft Pad Armchair on Drafting Chair Base Prototype

Front view of a red, green, and yellow metal balance toy with an acrobat on a ladder holding a large arc for balance.

Balance Toy

Top down view of the Eames 691 Coffee Table with an onyx top, that is translucent white with brown veins.

691 Coffee Table

Portrait of Charles Eames from the fall of 1925 when he was a student at Washington University.

Photograph of Charles from College

Wooden Japanese top with painted concentric circles that was collected by the Eameses.

Japanese Top

ES108 Eames Sofa

Ray Eames graphite and charcoal on paper drawing of a neighbor’s home that she made as a teenager.

Drawing of House

Side view of a white papier-mache horse head mask that is painted white and brown.

White Horse Mask

Front view of the Eames Secretarial Pull-Up Chair with yellow Naugahyde and woven Hopsack textile and a steel base.

DSX-36 Secretarial Pull-Up Chair

Artist Saul Steinberg used black paint to make a playful drawing of a cat on a yellow Eames Fiberglass Armchair.

Fiberglass Armchair with Steinberg Cat

Front view of a Japanese Toy Fish Game with painted metal fish that gives the illusion that the fish move along the wire.

Japanese Toy Fish Game

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Occasional Table Prototype

Portrait of a drawing of a woman by Saul Steinberg projected onto his wife Hedda Sterne’s face while she is holding a glass.

Photograph of Steinberg Drawing Projected onto Hedda Sterne with Glass

Front view of the Eames EA219 Tilt-Swivel High Back Desk Armchair, upholstered in black leather with a metal base.

EA219 Tilt-Swivel High Back Desk Armchair

About the Eames Collection

The Eames Collection contains more than 40,000 objects spanning the expansive creative practice of Ray and Charles Eames. Drawn largely from the Eames Office at 901 Washington Boulevard in Venice, California, the holdings⁠—which the Eames family asked the Institute to safeguard⁠—include one-of-a-kind design prototype parts and pieces, early examples of their iconic furniture, extensive photographs, correspondence, tools, ephemera, and personal artifacts collected over decades of experimentation, travel, and collaboration. Together, these materials provide the world’s most intimate view into the Eameses’ work, which shaped, and continue to shape, modern design across furniture, architecture, exhibition design, film, and visual communications.

The Collection exists today because Lucia Eames as the owner and Llisa Demetrios as registrar spent decades caring for and archiving the materials that remained outside institutional archives. Believing Ray and Charles’s iterative process to be as important as their finished work, incredible care has been put into accounting for virtually every piece of material at the closure of the Eames Office in Venice, California. Today, the Eames Institute stewards the Collection through ongoing cataloging, preservation, research, and public engagement, ensuring that this remarkable archive is accessible to current and future generations at the Eames Archives, Eames Ranch, and the Institute’s forthcoming museum, as well as through loans to peer institutions.

All Exhibitions