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Eames Plastic Side Chair is a contemporary version of the legendary Fiberglass Chair. It was produced in collaboration with Zenith Plastics for the Museum of Modern Art in New York's Low-Cost Furniture Design Competition and was the first industrially manufactured plastic chair.
Since the 1950s the organically shaped seat shell of the Plastic Side Chair has been combined with various bases and produced in the millions. In the current polypropylene version the Side Chair provides even greater seating comfort. PSCC transforms the Side Chair into a swivelling office chair. To complement the product line, Vitra is re-launching the fully-upholstered Plastic Armchair. The organically shaped upholstered shells are particularly comfortable and radiate a homely atmosphere. The Hopsak cover in 13 colours can be combined at will with the eight colours of the seat shell. Together with the base frames, this creates any number of individual possible combinations. The upholstery is fixed to the shell with black or white piping.
Seat Shell Description
Dyed-through polypropylene. All models (except RAR) are available with a seat cushion (screwed to the seat shell) or full upholstery. The fully upholstered version has moulded polyurethane foam padding covered in Hopsak fabric, attached to the shell with a welted edge. Covers are available in all Hopsak fabric colours. Different shell and upholstery colours and various bases provide a multitude of possible combinations.
Charles & Ray Eames
From 1941 to 1943, Charles and Ray Eames designed and developed stretchers and leg splints made of moulded plywood, and in 1946 they exhibited their experimental moulded plywood furniture at the New York Museum of Modern Art. The Herman Miller Company in Zeeland, Michigan, subsequently began to produce the Eameses' furniture designs. Charles and Ray participated in the 1948 'Low-Cost Furniture' competition at MoMA, and they built the Eames House in 1949 as their own private residence. Around 1955 they began to focus more on their extensive work as photographers and filmmakers, and in 1964 Charles received an honorary doctoral degree from the Pratt Institute in New York.
The Eames Office designed the IBM Pavilion for the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York, and the year 1969 offered the opportunity to participate in the exhibition 'Qu'est-ce que le design?' at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In 1970-71, Charles was appointed as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University. MoMA again presented an exhibition of the Eameses' work, entitled 'Furniture by Charles Eames', in 1973. Charles Eames died in St. Louis in 1978; Ray's death followed in 1988.
Charles and Ray Eames have had a profound and lasting influence on Vitra. The company's activity as a furniture manufacturer began in 1957 with the production of their designs. Yet it is not just the products of Charles and Ray Eames that have left their mark on Vitra. Even today, their design philosophy continues to profoundly shape the company's values, orientation and goals.
Swiss manufacturer Vitra’s collections of furniture and lighting bring together the colour, culture and sophistication of the world’s most prominent designers.