In 1940, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen developed a chair for the New York Museum of Modern Art with a novel, three-dimensionally moulded plywood seat shell. The production failed, however, due to the lacking technical conditions. Only rarely can plywood be successfully moulded into a three-dimensional shape. In the following years, Charles and Ray Eames concentrated on developing a new production process.
The plywood chairs DCW (Dining Chair Wood) and LCW (Lounge Chair Wood) are the result of this long-term experimentation. Charles & Ray Eames did away with the multifunctional seat shell and replaced the seat and back with separate, freely articulated elements connected over a backbone (frame). Every part is reduced to a clearly defined function which it optimally fulfils with a minimum of materials. ‘Shock mounts’, or rubber washers fused into the wood, connect the seat and back with the frame, which is available in wood or metal in two different heights, as a Dining or Lounge Chair.
The original LCW chair was designed in 1945 by Charles and Ray Eames and is manufactured as a 1:1 by the Herman Miller Furniture Company, Zeeland, Michigan, USA, and Vitra International AG, Basel, Switzerland.
The miniature version offered here by Vitra (scale 1:6) is made of natural plywood.