Eames Classics Receive Vibrant Updates From Rolf and Mette Hay

When the Danish husband-and-wife design duo Rolf and Mette Hay first moved in together a little more than two decades ago, one of the first things they bought was an Eames lounge chair. “We had a few lamps, a bed, but in that [Copenhagen] apartment this chair was the centerpiece,” Mette recalls. “And it still is. It’s a piece you never get rid of.”

Over the years, as they built their company, Hay, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, they’ve amassed more Eames pieces: side tables, a leg splint, and, most recently, their own emerald version of the molded-plywood lounge chair. It’s one of eight Eames classics that Hay has reimagined in new colors and materials.

“Everything starts with Ray and Charles,” says Rolf, who has studied the couple’s oeuvre in great detail. Like the famous American pair, he and Mette have built a brand that is rigorous yet playful and accessible. Their hit recycled-plastic storage bins start at just $9.

But how to revise pieces that are, by history’s telling, perfect? The Eamesian way, of course. “I learned from the Eameses that new technology or new materials can be very inspiring starting points,” explains Rolf. Hay worked with sister company Herman Miller to update the seat of the Eames molded-plastic shell chair using postindustrial recycled plastic and adapt other designs for the outdoors. Two tables are now topped with cast glass, while wire chairs have been powder-coated and can be outfitted with weatherproof cushions.

Hay’s practical revisions also reveal a touch of fun, whether in the case of the cast-glass orbs that transform the Hang-It-All rack, or fresh new colors like toffee, pale yellow, and powder pink. Several hues are extracted from a 1950s Alexander Girard textile that will be reissued by Maharam for the occasion.

When Ben Watson, president of Herman Miller, considers the history of his 117-year-old American furniture brand, which acquired Knoll in 2021, he immediately thinks of the “California sunshine” that the Eameses delivered. “They gave optimism to what design could do,” he explains. If anyone
can carry that torch into the 21st century, it’s Hay. Copenhagen sunshine, it turns out, delivers similar results. hermanmiller.com