Adding Comfort To Culture. Vitra Launches Fully Upholstered Versions Of Classic Eames Chairs.

The famous molded side and armchairs by Charles and Ray Eames, originally created in fiberglass in 1950, then made in plastic, now made of polypropylene, have become a little more comfy with the fully upholstered versions recently launched by Vitra.



The Eames plastic armchair (sometimes called the 'potato chip' chair) and the Eames plastic side chair, available in eight shell colors, are now offered with your choice of 13 different colors of Hopsak upholstery and black or white piping.

Hopsak upholstery colors for the armchair:


Shell colors for the armchair:


Hopsak upholstery colors for the side chair:

Shell colors for the side chair:


When you add these options to the base options (R-wire, wooden, X-base and La Fonda base, you get a large number of possible combinations. Casters are also available on the armchair.


above: the four base options for either chair and casters.

Black piping:

White piping:

Detail of black piping:


all images courtesy of Vitra.

You can purchase these upholstered Eames chairs from twenty twentyone or find a dealer through Vitra.

Artist Decorated Eames Chairs For Auction Benefit Operation Design

above: Ideas Are Cheap Eames Chair by Joe Iurato

If you're like most design lovers, you either own or have always wanted to own a molded Eames Plywood Chair. Well, now's your chance to have a very unique one and benefit a good cause, all at the same time. From May 11 Through June 1st, the Public Works Department is featuring Eames Inspiration, an online ebay auction of customized Eames molded plywood chairs to benefit Operation Design.



Curated by Billi Kid and Luna Park, each chair has been decorated by various street and graffiti artists and the reserve price is set at $1,000 each. The chairs will also be featured in the windows of Barneys New York on Madison Ave and 61st.

Here's a look at all the chairs available for auction.

Left: Aakash Nihalani and right: Billi Kid

Left: Blanco and right: Cake

Left: Celso and right: Cern

Left: Damon Ganandes and right: Darkcloud

Left:David Cooper and right: Elbow-Toe

Left: James and Karla Murray and right: Joe Iruato

Left: Matt Siren and right: NohJColey

Left: Peru Ana Ana Peru and Skewville

Left: Sofia Maldonado and right: Stikman

Left: UR®New York and right: Veng


some detail shots for you...

above: detail of Elbow Toe's On The Wings Of Desire Eames Chair

above: detail of Sofia Maldonado's Caribbean Clouds Eames Chair

above: detail of Joe Iurato's Ideas Are Cheap Eames Chair

above: detail of UR® New York's Nyc Layers Eames Chair

above: detail of Matt Siren's Skullboy Takes A Seat Eames Chair

above: detail of Damon Ginandes' Awaiting Eames Chair

above: detail of James and Karla Murray's STORE FRONT: The Disappearing Face Of New York Eames Chair


Start bidding here.


About Operation Design:

Operation Design offers students direct interaction with professionals and challenges young people in public schools, grades K-12, to put their creativity to practical, important, and real use.

Operation Design organizes architects, graphic artists, design professionals, construction professionals and related professionals to work with public school students to create motivating and inspiring spaces and projects.

Operation Design is an independent 501c3 not-for-profit organization based in New York City.

Bruxe X Uranium Tiny Little Chairs Pendants Now Available!

There was much brouhaha a few months back when the news first broke that Bruxe Design of Montreal would be pairing up with Uranium to create modern chair classic pendants. Now, the first five charming three dimensional casts of mid-century modern chairs are finally available for purchase online.

I must confess, I was disappointed to see that the gold was only 10k (however, you can order custom versions in 14k, 18k, 24k and even platinum). They cost a little more than I was hoping they would, but they are still incredibly lust worthy. And finally available.



Tiny Little Chairs is a series of collectible pendants celebrating mid century design. Each pendant represents a vintage chair which revolutionized furniture production and the design process (however, you'll notice, they couldn't use the actual names of the original chair designs by Eames, Saarinen, and Mies van der Rohe).




The designers of this era have forever changed the way we interact with design objects and their harmony within of our home, office and environment. These miniatures allow you to wear your love and appreciation for these pioneering designers and their iconic objects which continue to be benchmarks for today's designers.

The first series consists of five chairs (all shown below), The Scoop Chair, The Dining Chair, The Work Chair, The Bent Chair and The Pavilion Chair, each offered in solid gold, silver or bronze.


The Scoop Chair (modeled after the Eames Fiberglass Shell Chair):

SCOOP CHAIR - 10K GOLD $700.00
SCOOP CHAIR - BRONZE $180.00
SCOOP CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $230.00

The Dining Chair (modeled after the Eero Saarinen Tulip chair)

DINING CHAIR - 10K GOLD $500.00
DINING CHAIR - BRONZE $140.00
DINING CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $180.00

The Work Chair (modeled after the Eames Time Life Chair)

WORK CHAIR - 10K GOLD $1,250.00
WORK CHAIR - BRONZE $270.00
WORK CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $350.00

The Bent Chair (modeled after Eames LCW Chair)

BENT CHAIR - 10K GOLD $600.00
BENT CHAIR - 925 STERLING $200.00
BENT CHAIR - BRONZE $160.00

The Pavilion Chair (modeled after Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Chair)

PAVILION CHAIR - 10K GOLD $1,600.00
PAVILION CHAIR - BRONZE $340.00
PAVILION CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $500.00

Buy them here.

Happy 4th Of July! A Patriotic Promotion From DWR

To remind potential buyers of their holiday promotion (free shipping through July 4th) Design Within Reach e-mailed out this patriotic email to their customers and subscribers that features the American flag made up of modern chairs. This is the second year in a row they've created their 'modern' version of Old Glory.

This year, 2009, they used the Eames shell chair with Eiffel tower base, the Bubble Club outdoor chair and the Bantam Armchair to make up the flag:



The three chairs used in the above art are all available for purchase from DWR:


above: Eames® Molded Plastic Side Chair, available here.
above: Bubble Club Armchair by Philipe Starck, available here.
above: the Bantam Armchair, available here.

Last year's version (2008) featured the Panton chair in blue, the Arne Jacobsen Swan chair in red and the molded Eames Chair in white:



And once again, the chairs from the 2008 DWR flag are all available for purchase:


above: Eames® Molded Plastic Side Chair, available here.
above: Panton chair, available here
above: Arne Jacobsen Swan Chair, available here

I just love them and thought they'd be the perfect way to wish you all a happy Fourth of July!

Shop Design Within Reach and take advantage of their free shipping offer through July 4th now.

Mature Style For Your Mini Me: Modern Furniture Design Classics for Kids

In the 1700s and 1800s it was commonplace for children's furniture to look exactly like adult furniture, only smaller in size. Then in the 1900's, and certainly by my birth in the mid 1960s, children's furnishings and toys were made of plastic, vinyl or formica and came in bright primary colors or sickly pastels and were often printed with duckies or trains. Furnishings that concentrated more on function that form.

They usually didn't have much aesthetic appeal to an adult, their biggest selling point being that they were safe, durable and 'easy to keep clean'. This yielded such popular, albeit tacky, items as bean bag chairs, ride on plastic horses and beds shaped like castles and race cars.

Now there are lots of beautiful modern furniture options for children on the market that cater to both form and function. Several new companies and manufacturers such as Argington, Iglooplay, Offi kids, Netto, Oeuf, Ooba, and the Magis Me Too Collection (see the links to many more modern children's stores in my sidebar) have appeared over the past few years who make quality modern cribs, dressing tables, bassinets and the like in palatable, tasteful colors and woods.

But for this post, I'm sharing with you a return to the 1700s and 1800s with some children's sized replicas of adult designer furniture. Only this go round, it's 'modern classic' furniture that comes in pint sized versions.



Actual scaled down pieces (both authentic and replicas) of well known works by designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Le Corbusier, Arne Jacobsen, Vernor Panton and more eight different companies.



Either children are writing down their wanton desires for a mini Barcelona chair on their Christmas list or parents are simply looking for more stylish children's furnishings so they can leave the door to their kids room ajar without shame. Either way, the following are some truly nice examples that are all available for purchase.

First off, if you didn't know, KnollStudio, Herman Miller and Kartell actually do make some of their own modern furniture in scaled down versions.


The Child's Womb Chair by KnollStudio:


The Womb Chair has been developed in both small and medium scale, to complement and accompany the standard Womb Chair designed by Eero Saarinen in 1948

The Child's Barcelona Chair and Ottoman by KnollStudio:

The Child’s Barcelona Chair and Ottoman are 85% scale of the standard Barcelona Chair and Ottoman designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1929


and the Child's Eames Molded Plastic Rocker by Herman Miller, originally designed in 1948:



The Philipe Starck Ghost Chair by Kartell now comes in a child's version called the Lou Lou Ghost Chair:


All of the above chairs can be purchased here at All Modern Baby.


Another example is Little Nest of Australia who creates scaled down replicas of modern classic furniture like the immensely popular Eames Lounge Chair, The Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair, the Barcelona Chair by Meis Van der Rohe and other designs that have resurged as popular design icons ver the past 2 decades. Because these are reproduced items and not made by Knoll or Herman Miller, or associated with the original licensed pieces, they have different nomenclature.

The Mini-e based on the Eames lounge chair:

The Club Chair (based on Le Corbusier's LC-1):

The Little Bert (based on Harry Bertoia's classic Wire Chair):

The Play Ball (based on Eero Arnio's Ball Chair):

The Cygnet (based on Arne Jacobsen's Swan Chair):

The Madrid (based on Mies Van der Rohe's Barcelona Chair):

The Yolk (Based on Arne Jacobsen's Egg Chair):

Visit Little Nest to learn more.




Another company creating mini versions of collectible and stunning modern furniture design is Living Jewels of Germany who sells the scaled down versions Le Corbusier's famous Le Grand Confort collection; the single seater, the two seater versions and a daybed.





Available in various colored leathers, the collection is quite sophisticated, even for the most design-savvy juvenile.








Visit Living Jewels to learn more.


Boom has a collection called MiniBoom that makes a few sofas that replicate the ones I've seen in many of my friends' homes. A funky little modern sofa called, not surprisingly, the Modern Sofa and a little sectional sofa called the Lucy.


You can buy the Lucy Sectional or the Modern Sofa here.

And in 2006, Vitra reproduced their famous Vernor Panton chair in a mini me size:




Learn more about the Panton Junior here.


Finnish designer Alvar Aalto's famous birch 3 legged stool is made in both adult and children's sizes as well.


Both adult and child Aalto stools are available for purchase from Unica home.

Now, I'm waiting for a Barcelona dog bed. After all, The Dog Bar already makes one based on the Le Corbusier chair.