Architects rekindle passion for plywood, 70 years after Eames chair
What started as an experiment in practicality over appearance has developed into a cheap and flexible favourite more than 70 years on
Charles Eames caused quite a stir when he first used plywood to make a chair.
Until then, furniture had been heavy, solid and complex. He thought it should be lighter, simpler and more flexible.
Eames' wife and design partner, Ray, who he married in 1941, shared this view. And through their experimental work with moulded plywood - and later, moulded plastics - the pioneering "first couple" of modern design went on to help shape nearly every facet of US life.
More than 70 years on, Eames originals are museum pieces. But the love affair with a utilitarian material once considered a lesser being than solid wood continues. Why? Because it works. As Ray Eames said: "What works is better than what looks good." Looks can change, she added, "but what works, works".
Happily for the current generation of architects and designers who are rediscovering its attributes, plywood also looks great.