Christmas gift idea (3): "Charles & Ray Eames", by Maryse Quinton

Monday, December 21, 2015

Christmas gift idea (3): "Charles & Ray Eames", by Maryse Quinton

In this book, the contemporary designers questioned in the insets all place them in their personal pantheon. Giulio Cappellini, for example, believes they are the greatest designers of all times.
Maryse Quinton (with Eames Demetrios and Alexandra Forterre) reviews four decades of creation, enhancing certain key moments, such as the construction of their home on the heights of Pacific Palisades, and offers a complete panorama. It talks of their relations with big industry (Alcoa) or the intelligentsia (Billy Wilder) but lacks two must-have elements: a real chronology and an index.

Maryse Quinton, Eames Demetrios, Alexandra Forterre, "Charles & Ray Eames", Éditions de La Martinière, Paris, 2015.
Available at nb:notabene Torino, via Bellezia 12 - via Giolitti 26 a.

Eamesiana is a project by Andrea Terranova and Raffaela Cardia, italian trends scouts on contemporary design.

"The Eameses created the future we're still living"

metropolismag.com

Charles Eames (1907–78) and Ray Eames (1912–88) gave shape to America's twentieth century. Their lives and work represented the US's defining movements: the West Coast's coming-of-age, the economy's shift from making goods to producing information, and the global expansion of American culture. The Eameses embraced the era's visionary concept of modern design as an agent of social change, elevating it to a national agenda. Their evolution from furniture designers to cultural ambassadors demonstrated their boundless talents and the overlap of their interests with those of their country. In a rare era of shared objectives, the Eameses partnered with the governments (US, India) and the country's top businesses to lead the charge to modernize postwar America.