Vintage Charles, Ray Eames LAR Herman Miller Sea Foam Shell Chair Low Wire Base
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:6834668 | Style: Mid-Century Modern |
| Original/Reproduction: Original | Sub-Style: American |
| Type: Low Chair | Maker: Herman Miller |
| Color: Sea Foam Green |
Vintage LAR by The Office of Charles and Ray Eames Original Herman Miller Sea Foam Green Molded Plastic Chair with Low Wire Base The Office of Charles and Ray Eames: LAR [Low-low Chair]. Zeeland, MI: Herman Miller Furniture Company, n.d. Offered here is an original Herman Miller LAR Sea Foam Green Molded Plastic Chair with a vintage aftermaket “cat’s cradle” wire base. Marked with “Designed by Charles Eames / Herman Miller Zeeland, Mich” circular medallion to underside, a...long with paper label remnant. One of the shock mounts has neatly split off the shell and can easily be securely remounted, or left “as is” without compromise. The resin and fiberglass reinforced shell is in very good vintage condition with trivial rubbing along the outer edges. Close inspection reveals a couple of tiny paint spots that are easily removeable with the solvent of your choice. The Modernica Cat’s Cradle base is 20 years old and will be unscrewed for shipping. The chair shows off the beautiful fiberglass embedded shell with just the right amount of patina to ward off the embarassment of being mistaken for a contemporary knockoff. The circular medallion points towards an early 1960s manufacturing date. SpecificationsHeight: 24.5”Width: 24.875”Depth: 24.5”The Museum of Modern Art’s press release from May 14, 1950 titled PRIZE-WINNING FURNITURE IN THE INTERNATIONAL LOW-COST FURNITURE DESIGN COMPETITION TO GO ON EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM provides some historical background on the origins of this extremely popular chair design: “Prize-winning furniture in the International Low-Cost Furniture Design Competition, sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art and Museum Design project, Inc., will be exhibited on the first floor of the Museum, 11 West 53 Street, from May 17 through July l6. All the furniture which won awards in the competition, that brought in nearly 3, 000 entries from 32 countries, will be on view along with the original designs and models submitted to the jury. In addition, a number of non-prize-winning designs and models, both full scale and quarter-size, will be included in the exhibition because of their special Interest and new ideas. The exhibition, which will Include some 50 full size models, a dozen quarter-size models and more than 100 original design panels, is being organized by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., Director of the Competition and Consultant on Design for the Museum. . . . Co-winner of second prize in seating units: Chair designed by Charles flames and the University of California, Los Angeles Campus, group; manufactured by Herman Miller Furniture Company, Zealand, Michigan: This molded fibre glass chair is in many respects an astonishing fulfilment of the ideas developed by Charles Eames and his occasional associate Eero Saarinen in 1940 when similar designs of theirs won first prize in the Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Design Competition. The 1940 chairs produced in laminated plywood were the point of departure for many interesting designs by both these men which are now on the market, but the chair presented here is closer to the original concept than any of the variations they have carried out during the 10-year interim. Now it has been possible to find a plastic substance and a molding process in which this kind of shape can be produced economically. Chairs with complicated molded curves like this have always presented a special problem in the attachment of legs, but this time the problem has been solved with unusual directness and neatness.Perhaps the greatest advantage of this chair is the extraordinary lustre and soft, smooth surface of the plastic which, strengthened by the silky threads of glass imbedded within it, quickly absorb room temperatures. Never before used in furniture, this airplane plastic is virtually indestructable and withstands stains and mars. Both to the eye and to the touch this plastic is a most desirable addition to the gamut of materials available for modern rooms. Unlike similarly shaped chairs, this one permits many shifts of position which, it has been discovered, is a necessary characteristic of a chair that is to be comfortable. Besides a four-legged base, the chair is also available with a central supporting pedestal, as a rocker and with a wire cat's cradle base. The plastic is integrally colored off-white, medium gray, gun metal or a soft light grey-brown. The four-legged and cat’s cradle versions will retail for about $32.50; the other 2 versions for about $39.50.From the Eames Office: “When incorporating color into their fiberglass chair designs, Charles and Ray went beyond the consideration of tone and hue. They specifically chose to use integral colors—colors that completely permeate the material. As distinguished from applied color, integral color is longer lasting, and doesn’t chip or flake. In a 1954 letter to British engineer Frank Newby, Charles explained that “The finish can be seen as an integral part of the chair and is not later applied, but rather forced around the glass fibers as molded.”“The first colors offered for the fiberglass chair included Elephant Hide Grey, Parchment, and Greige. This last color was one that the design duo introduced to the vocabulary; early brochures clarified the definition of the new word with the parenthetical “Grey-Beige.”“Charles and Ray initially selected relatively neutral colors so that they would fit in with the greatest number of environments. The Eameses were attentive to the needs of their customers, and that included consideration of the end cost for the consumer. To keep prices reasonable, the designers were sensitive to the exigencies of production. It can be very expensive for a manufacturer to offer a product in many colors, so they took a gradual approach, eventually adding Red, Sea Foam Green, and Lemon Yellow to the line.”Shipping cost references professional packing and shipping via UPS Ground. Please visit my Ebay store for an excellent and ever-changing selection of rare and out-of-print design books and periodicals covering all aspects of 20th-century visual culture. I offer shipping discounts for multiple purchases. Please contact me for details.Payment due within 3 days of purchase.
