Fiberglass Side Shell

Fabricating the Side Shells turned out to be a greater challenge than Ray and Charles anticipated. The earliest Side Shells that went into production in 1953 were very thin and tended to crack at the edge where the back rises from the seat. This example is a “survivor” that didn’t crack. The Eameses continued to iterate on the design—trying to find the right balance of weight and strength. They started producing the thicker shell two years later, which remained unchanged until 1993.

The Summit logo (backward “B”, “A”, “S” inside a circle) and an embossed Herman Miller logo and word mark are on the underside of the shell.