Airplane Pilot’s Seat

The Eameses designed this bucket-shaped shell as a fighter pilot’s seat for the US Navy. As in the construction of their plywood splints, the slots in the casing served a dual purpose. They allowed the molded plywood to curve without breaking and created an ideal opening to secure the straps of a pilot’s detachable parachute. Charles and Ray developed their process for shaping plywood in order to realize chair designs that molded to the body, and they would return to making chairs after the war. The pilot’s seat’s gentle curves reflect the designers’ emerging signature style, intended to provide comfortable support to the human body using a hard and rigid material. This was especially practical for military supplies that needed to be shipped and stored at the lowest possible cost. Despite its pragmatism, the seat remained a prototype, and was never manufactured.