They Dont Make Them Like They Used To

You know the idiom. It's a phrase that compliments makers past while simultaneously offering a back-handed slap to today's manufacturers. It indicates that sometime in the not-too-distant-good-old-days there was a golden era when folks cared about quality, about doing things properly.

While it is a nice thought I believe our collective memory has glossed over some of the less plesant bits of the past. There have always been schlock-houses churning out products of inferior quality. Perhaps it is the simple fact that the good things remain that causes us to believe everything behind us was high quality.

Whatever the reason this phrase came to mind as I was perusing a vintage design store a few weeks back. Slipping quietly between an Eames Aluminum Group and a Brno chair I thought - "Yes! they DO make things like they used to!" The chairs in this shop had been well used, but still had quite a bit of life left in them. Both chairs were made by the same manufacturers that make them today - Herman Miller and Knoll. And both chairs were made in essentially the same manner, and with the same materials then as they are now.

Further on in the back of the shop I stumbled onto another form that was strikingly familiar. I stared at the wooden frame for a full minute before I recognized it as a vintage example of the 1946 chair Jens Risom had designed for the Caribe Hilton Hotel (and later re-released for Design Within Reach under the name of the Jens Chair). The vintage chair was missing the upholstery allowing me the opportunity to carefully inspect the frame. As I looked I had another thought - "Aha! Sometimes they DON'T make them like they used to!"

You see, when Design Within Reach partnered with Jens Risom to re-launch the Jens Chair we wanted to make use not only of his design, but of his extensive experience as a designer. Over the course of a career a person gathers things that cannot be taught, things that can only be learned by experience. Jens' career was no different. Beginning with his first collection for Knoll and continuing through today he has been a consummate woodworker. In 1941, when other designers were experimenting with fiberglass, plywood, and metals Jens stayed true to his Scandinavian roots in terms of material: wood, upholstery, and the occasional bit of surplus parachute webbing. So when discussions began about the Jens chair in 2008 we shouldn't have been surprised that Jens wanted to make slight changes to the design. He had stayed abreast of manufacturing techniques and suggested that we change the attachment of the seat to the front leg. Instead of having the seat simply abut the leg (as in the photo above) he suggested creating a dado joint. Such a change would be stronger and longer lasting. (even though these vintage chairs were in great shape!)

While it's reassuring that Herman Miller and Knoll are staying true to the exacting designs of Eames and Mies Van der Rohe it's also refreshing to see an experienced designer still striving to make things better. Sometimes they still do make 'em like they used to. And sometimes they dont - and we're better off for it.

Material Mondays

My plan was to have the first Monday of every month be designated "Material Mondays" in which I talk about a different material used to make things. Yes, it's Thursday, but better late than never.

I'm going to use this first Material Monday to tackle a sometimes tough subject - the Eames Molded Plastic Chairs. You see, working at DWR I often hear people lament that the Molded Plastic Chairs are no longer made out of fiberglass. I've heard it all - from claims the fiberglass was more 'organic' looking to unequivocal assertions that it was the 'original material.'

It might surprise you to know that both claims are false.

As a material fiberglass is exactly what it sounds like: needle thin fibers of glass that are formed into a rough shape. That shape is drenched in a mixture of plastic resin and pigment, and squished between two sides of a mold that are coated with a special finish called a gel-coat which seals the fibers. The mold is subject to heat and pressure and voila! Out pops a shape - in this case the Eames Plastic chairs.

At one point, its true, the chairs were made out of fiberglass. In fact, for much of their production history - from 1950 to 1993 the chairs were made out of the material. It is easy to understand why people are nostalgic about it. Under the wear of many backsides most of the vintage chairs have acquired a brilliant glossy shine. The colorful chairs often reveal a unique translucency when put in front of a bright light. Unfortunately fiberglass has many problems. It's not a particularly healthy material -the American Lung Association lists it as a likely carcinogen. If you scratch through the gel-coat the glass fibers can be released, causing skin irritation and lung problems. The same risks are much greater to the workers making the chairs .

The chairs also posed a problem for the greater environment: until fairly recently fiberglass wasn't recyclable. Millions of chairs were created since 1950. Once an institution was done with them the chairs were scrapped into junkyards, creating huge amounts of waste. So, in 1993, the Eames family, along with Herman Miller and Vitra (makers of Eames' furniture in America and Europe respectively) ceased production of the chairs in fiberglass.

Before we get to the end of the story lets jump to the beginning. In the late 1940s Charles and Ray Eames were stuck. They wanted to make a chair that had a single shell to sit in. In 1946 they had developed and produced chairs out of a relatively new material: plywood. But during the process they discovered a problem: plywood can only be formed in so many directions before it breaks. Making a single shell of plywood proved impossible. Instead they compromised and split the chair seat and backrest into two separate pieces. The results were the enormously successful plywood lounge chair (LCW) and plywood dining chairs (DCM)

They continued experimenting with other materials, including stamped metal. By 1948 they had developed prototypes of chairs and submitted them to the International Competition for Low Cost Furniture at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The Eames' entries were featured in the museum catalog, but the metal chairs didn't go into production. Each prototype was stamped by hand using a primitive pulley system. The metal was laid over a mold and a counterpart was then raised up high and dramatically dropped. Each chair shell was composed of three metal pieces that needed to be welded together, then ground smooth, then painted. It was simply too much work for a chair meant to be mass produced. The form of the chairs worked, but the material didn't. And so in 1950 the Eames moved on to fiberglass reinforced plastic.

It is here that you can start to see a pattern, right? The plywood material didn't quite work, and so the Eames moved to metal. And when that didn't work, they moved to fiberglass.

You see, the Eames were constant tinkerers, working to make things better. As the Eames found new materials, and new techniques they applied them. You can see this process in the EC127 chair from 1971. It is essentially a DCM, but it has evolved. Instead of plywood the seat and back are composed of injection-molded plastic with a fabric upholstery. The glued-on rubber bushings are replaced by integrated mounts. The same process happened with the plastic chairs where almost every component - from the rubber bushings to the plastic feet - was tweaked, changed, made better.


When Ray Eames died in 1988 her grandson Eames Demetrios took over the Eames Office. And in 2001 the Eames' legacy of making things better continued. Herman Miller, Vitra, and the Eames Office re-released the molded plastic chairs. This time, instead of stamped metal or fiberglass the chairs were made out of injection molded polypropylene. Polypropylene is very durable and colorfast. Because the chairs are one solid material they can be scrubbed clean without fear of scratching through the surface. Best of all, polypropylene is 100% recyclable.

So if you like the Molded plastic chairs you've got a couple of options - you can hunt around eBay and Craigslist for vintage ones (buying used is a form of recycling!) Or you can buy new molded plastic chairs, confident that you are buying a true original, made in the same spirit - and a much better material - as everything the Eames produced.

Sources:
Eames Office www.eamesoffice.com
Eames Design; Neuhart, Neuhart, Eames (c) 1989
Design Within Reach www.dwr.com
Herman Miller www.hermanmiller.com