Charles & Ray Eames

American designers Charles (1907-1978) and his wife Ray (1912-1988) Eames made groundbreaking contributions to many creative fields including architecture, furniture design, industrial design, graphic design, fine arts and film. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Charles Eames grew up in America's industrial heartland. As a young man he worked for engineers and manufacturers, anticipating his lifelong interest in mechanics and the complex working of things. Ray Kaiser, born in Sacramento, California, demonstrated her fascination with the abstract qualities of ordinary objects early on. She spent her formative years in the orbit of New York's modern art movements and participated in the first wave of American-born abstract artists.

The couple married in 1941 and moved from Michigan, where they had met at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, to Los Angeles and established an office together. With a grand sense of adventure, Charles and Ray turned their curiosity and boundless enthusiasm into creations that established them as a truly great husband-and-wife design team. Their unique synergy led to a whole new look in furniture. Modern and minimal. Playful and functional. Sleek, sophisticated, and beautifully simple. That was and is the "Eames look."