Family Seating Fiberglass Shell Prototype

This prototype for the seating shell of a four-seat molded fiberglass sofa offers a window into how the Eameses’ approach to design encouraged the natural extension of concepts. Based on the fiberglass shell of the Loose Cushion Armchair, the idea of this design was to provide public seating for a group—a family waiting in an airport, perhaps—that could impart a sense of intimacy by gathering the sitters close together in a curve. The prototype was handmade at the Eames Office by cutting sectional slices into another prototype for a love seat version of the Loose Cushion Armchair and extending it into a gracious curve. Pencil marks on the form’s back made by Charles Eames suggest that Charles and Ray envisioned mounting the shell at a slight upward tilt, similar to how the other chairs in the group sit at a slight recline. But no base was produced and the idea taken no further. Two remaining prototype love seats (one of which is now in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum) provide some clues as to what a more realized design could have been. Although Herman Miller did desire an Eames sofa with arms, the decision was made that producing these designs would prove too costly and impractical. This prototype is from the collection of Karl Rimer (Eames Office staff member 1968–1973).