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The idea for this design came from a long-standing friend of Charles und Ray Eames, film director Billy Wilder, who was looking for a recliner for relaxing in and taking short rests.
Six cushions joined together with zips are attached to the aluminium frame, and there are two loose cushions for extra comfort. Vitra has produced the Soft Pad programme for many decades to a consistently high quality. On the basis of this experience we are now granting a 30-year guarantee on all chairs of the Soft Pad Group. Materials For versions in leather nero, brown and red, the colour of the backrest covers in Plano are adjusted to match the leather covers. For leather asphalt versions, the backrest covers are dark grey, for chocolate leather they are brown, and for marron leather, brown, for sand leather mauve grey, for snow leather white, for clay leather in stone, for olive and camel leather in coffee. Back cover in leather available for an additional charge. Technical Aluminium base in aubergine finish. Padded leather upholstery comprising six fixed and two loose cushions.
Upholstery/cover
Padded leather upholstery, six fixed and two loose cushions.
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.