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The premium-quality tops of the Eames Coffee Table by Charles and Ray Eames are available in rectangular or square versions in either palisander veneer, marble or solid American walnut. The wooden legs accentuate the understated elegance of this refined coffee table.
In 1949, Charles and Ray Eames designed a coffee table as a unique furnishing for their own residence, the legendary Eames House in Pacific Palisades, near Los Angeles. Ever since, the table has contributed to the unique decor of this historic home interior. The rectangular table top, which gives a simultaneous impression of simplicity and luxury, was originally covered in gold leaf. Its dowel-leg base is a variation of the wooden base found on the Eames Plastic Chairs. In the following years, Charles and Ray Eames produced two more of these tables with different tops, one in marble and the other in wood.
The re-edition of the Eames Coffee Table, which was developed by Vitra in cooperation with the Eames Office, evokes the spirit of the early one-off pieces: fabricated in exquisite materials, this high-quality coffee table is both precious object and utilitarian furnishing. The square or rectangular table tops are made of palisander veneer, marble or solid American walnut. The base, combining wooden legs with metal cross-struts, provides a stable understructure and emphasises the understated elegance of the Eames Coffee Table.
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.