The Newly Launched Eames Institute Brings Insight into the Eameses’ Design Methodology

The Newly Launched Eames Institute Brings Insight into the Eameses’ Design Methodology

The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity is a new non-profit organization that aims to bring forward the design processes and problem-solving approaches of the two renowned designers with the purpose of equipping a new generation of creatives with the tools for tackling today’s challenges. Through archival exhibitions, storytelling, and other programming, the institution will demonstrate the Eameses’ iterative process and highlight the lessons to be passed on from their methodology, making a vast collection of objects, prototypes, and personal archives available to the public.

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“Being able to share the legacy of Ray and Charles in this way, to showcase their incredible process and wide-angled vision of design is the dream of a lifetime. I hope the Institute’s efforts will help people find inspiration for solving problems in their own world”, says chief Curator Llisa Demetrios and granddaughter of Ray and Charles Eames. The new Institute will join two other established organizations whose mission is to further the legacy of the two renowned designers: the Eames Office, now owned by the pair’s five grandchildren dedicated to extending their work and the Eames Foundation, established in 2004 by the Eames family to preserve and protect the Eames House in Los Angeles, California.

The Eames institute launches with three online exhibitions that put the work of Charles and Ray Eames in a broader context. Exhibit 01 | Before They Were the Eameses focuses on the work of the two designers before they joined forces, highlighting their shared work ethic and mutual design values. Exhibit 02 | Plywood During the War follows the Eames assistance in the war effort, while Exhibit 03 | Form Follows Formulation traces the “circuitous origins and radical premise” of the iconic Eames Shell Chair.

The Eames Institute will add a new facet to the network of organizations passionate about the Eameses’ work and strengthen everyone’s overarching mission of preserving and sharing Charles and Ray’s creative legacy. –Eames Demetrios, Director of the Eames Office and Chairman of the Board of the Eames Foundation.

Part of the newly forged Eames Institute is the Eames Ranch, built in the mid-1990s by Charles Eames’ daughter, Lucia Eames, as a residence and artist studio. The place will serve as a laboratory for enacting the Eameses’ approach to design.