Bio

1925–1928

Studies architecture at Washington University, St. Louis, USA

1929–1938

Freelance work as architect in St. Louis, interrupted by long trips to Europe (1929) and Mexico (1933/34)

1938/39

Studies design and architecture at Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA

1939–1941

Lecturer in design at Cranbrook Academy

1940/41

Wins two first prizes for designs submitted jointly with Eero Saarinen to the MoMA competition Organic Design in Home Furnishings

1941

Marriage and move to Los Angeles

1941–1945

Experiments in three-dimensional moulding of plywood; development of a production process for plywood mouldings on an industrial scale; first practical application of the method in a leg splint for the U.S. Navy (1942, production by Plyformed Wood, Venice, California); starting in 1942 Ray Eames designs the cover of the magazine Arts & Architecture

1944–1949

Designs an extensive collection of plywood furniture

1946

Eames plywood furniture presented at MoMA; beginning of collaboration with the Herman Miller Furniture Company in Zeeland, Michigan, USA

1948–1953

Enters MoMA’s international Low-Cost Furniture competition with chairs made of sheet steel and sheet aluminium; thereafter develops the world’s first chairs with a shell made of plastic

1949

Building of the Eames House in Santa Monica, California, as Case Study House No. 8

1951–1953

Development of furniture made of wire

1956

Launch of the Lounge Chair

1958

Launch of the Aluminum Group after a development period of just one year; successive shifts of focus from furniture design to the production of photo series, films and exhibitions

1959

Participation in the American National Exhibition in Moscow where their work Glimpses of the U.S.A. is screened on several big screens at once

1960/61

Concept and realization of the touring exhibition Mathematica for IBM

1964/65

Design of the IBM Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair with Eero Saarinen

1973–1976

Concept and realization of the touring exhibition The World of Franklin and Jefferson

1978–1988

Ray Eames leaves the estate to the Library of Congress and the Vitra Design Museum