Herman Miller Eames Molded Plastic Side Chair with Eiffel Tower Base
designed by Charles and Ray Eames
With a clean, simple form sculpted to fit the body, the Molded Plastic Chair with Eiffel Tower Base was first presented at the Museum of Modern Art in 1948. The classic Eames molded plastic side chair with wire base remains popular today for cafeterias, home offices, and dining areas. A clean, simple form sculpted to fit the body. Shells are recyclable polypropylene. The shell is dyed throughout so colors remain vibrant even after years of hard use. For extended comfort, the shell is connected to the base by rubber shock mounts.
The most creative and intricate base available for these chairs is the wire base, often called the Eiffel base after the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The reason it's called that is obvious when you see the chair; the legs taper upwards until they join near the seat, then expand back out. In between the legs of the chairs wire designs criss-cross and join together. While the look is certainly not a copy of the Eiffel tower, the associations between the towers of the legs and the connecting wires are clear.
Like the Eiffel Tower, this particular base is notable mainly for the way it looks and not for its function. It's clearly a monument to design, creativity, and re-imagined modes of support, in the same way that the tower is a monument to architecture, creative freedom and a new century. This model (DSR) of the chair is more expressive than the four legged version, more eye-catching and beautiful.
See the entire Eames Shell Chair Collection.
What's To Like:
While it has all the ganging and stacking capabilities that the four legged version has, it's not reserved, and is therefore not as perfectly suited to the task of filling auditoriums and schools. This is a more stylish chair and if often fits better in more stylish locales, like the home and the office. The wire base, the Eiffel base, is the most showy and intricate of the Eames Molded Plastic Chairs, and it looks absolutely beautiful. This is the type of chair you could use at a desk, at a kitchen table, or in the living room. It's beautiful, bold and fun, and the base is a big reason that feeling exudes from the chair.
Details:
- Overall: 31.5" h x 18" w x 21.5" d
- Seat height: 16.25"
- Recyclable polypropylene shell
- For extended comfort, the shell is connected to the base by rubber shock mounts
- The shell is dyed throughout so colors remain vibrant even after years of hard use
The Herman Miller Molded Plastic Side Chair is also known by the following manufacturer Item Numbers: DSR.
Materials:
Single-piece shell with waterfall edges and molded polypropylene seat and flexible back. Metal base and legs.
Dimensions:
Overall: 31.5" h x 18" w x 21.5" d
Seat height: 17.25"
4-legged base, flexible back, waterfall edges and chrome legs
Landmark Design
Organic shapes. A clean, simple form sculpted to fit the body; first presented at the Museum of Modern Art in 1948.
Popular today. The chairs have achieved a pervasive presence that proves the staying power of good design.
Thoughtful Engineering
Friendly to the earth. Shells are recyclable polypropylene.
Integral color. The shell is dyed throughout so colors remain vibrant even after years of hard use.
Cushioned contact. For extended comfort, the shell is connected to the base by rubber shock mounts.
Glide options. The standard glide is also available with felt to protect hard-surface floors.
New materials, especially those that held promise for doing more with less, fascinated Charles and Ray Eames throughout their careers. Their fascination led to inventive modern furniture, such as the molded plastic chair. Designed in 1948, it was the first plastic chair to be mass produced.
The current models looks exactly the same as the originals. They remain unupholstered, in keeping with the Eameses requirement that materials be expressed honestly and unselfconsciously. In fact, these were the first one-piece plastic chairs to be left uncovered.
At the same time, the chairs are better than ever. For example, the shell is now manufactured using more environmentally friendly, high-impact plastic.
