LAX (Lounge Height Armshell X Base) Chair

Description

Gallery Rotations Spring 2013
Charles and Ray Eames
United States, 1907–78 and 1912–88
Armchair (model LAX)
1950
Fiberglass resin, rubber shock mounts, metal rods, and metal glides
Manufactured by Herman Miller and Zenith Plastics
Gift of Herbert and Susan Johe, 2012/1.290, 2012/1.291, 2012/1.292
The Eameses finally achieved in fiberglass the goal that had eluded them in plywood: uniting a chair’s seat and back in a single, compound curve. This continuous plastic shell offered greater comfort and visual simplicity, making these chairs easy to integrate into any environment. They were light, inexpensive, and easily customized: the shells were made available in multiple colors and upholstery options, and they could be attached to a range of bases (including the popular “Eiffel Tower” model) via shock mounts. All of these qualities were appropriate to the search for a more “organic” modernism, responsive to human forms and desires.
The Eameses originally designed the forms for these chairs in metal, collaborating with engineers from UCLA as part of MoMA’s 1948 International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design. Like Breuer and Bel Geddes, they had hoped to make this eminently industrial material acceptable in the home, but the high manufacturing cost and cold affect of metal made them turn to fiberglass. As with the plywood designs, wartime material knowledge and the Eameses’ meticulous approach resulted in inexpensive, enormously popular chairs.