In 1945 the western world was emerging from a long, dark tunnel of economic depression and worldwide war (Norbert, 23). In the United States, the light at the end of the tunnel illuminated the shortages left after years focused entirely on survival. Thus

Design relies heavily on what has gone on before and influences what will fallow. The postwar era was a focal point at which many diverse and seemingly unrelated paths converged to create new forms for living, new ways of looking at our physical surroundings. The technologies of war, repression and later liberation, purge of ornamentation, and the struggle to achieve something never before accomplished, all had a major effect on the postwar period of design (Lynton, 21). One would even give credit to the two world wars for the development of modernism and the overall modern design that derives from it. War changes everything, that is a given. Its destruction forces rebuilding; its technology provides new materials and methods that all come together to form the new style, almost like a new start, the war is over and nothing that was before wants to be seen again.

To be a successful post war designer you had to be able to produce totally new and exciting designs. Charles Eames was one of the outstanding examples of modernism in America (Kirkham, 14). He was considered the head force in the twentieth century furniture design; he is noted for three major chair designs that influenced furniture production on an international scale. Charles Eames set new standards in both design and production techniques. He combined original ideas with modern technology while filling his work with a personal image of lightness and mobility. Charles Eames was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1907(Kirkham, 1). In 1924 he began his architectural studies at Washington University. In 1929 He traveled to Europe where he came in contact with the theories of the modern movement. Upon his return, he established the firm of Gray and Eames. Eames’ work from the 1930s consisted mainly of designs for stain glass, textiles, furniture and ceramics. In 1938 he received a fellowship to Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, where he studied under and collaborated with Eero Saarinen (Kirkham, 3-4). In joining the Cranbrook faculty, Eames headed the industrial design department. With Eero Saarinen, Eames entered the museum of Modern art’s “Organic Design in Home furnishings” competition winning first prize in two categories (Kirkham, 9). Their furniture designs go beyond current understanding of the idea of furniture in terms of fabrication techniques and materials used.

The techniques of gluing woods together were known, but it wasn’t until the twentieth century that laminated woods were truly used in the construction of new furniture forms. Lamination was anther technique used often in post war furniture once again brought from earlier design (Lynton, 34). Henry Belter had developed a technique of gluing layers of wood veneer with their grains at right angles to each other (class notes). The main advantage of lamination is that in enables the wood to be worked in so many ways that would have otherwise been impossible (Hall, 87). Another innovation that came from molded plywood developed during world war two was the technology of Eames and Saarinen (Kirkham, 34). Their molded plywood chair designed for the organic design in home Furnishing competition of 1940 (Kirkam, 67). Compared to ordinary wood, plywood is an extremely stable material (Hall, 44). The invention of molded plywood and its later use in furniture permitted an entirely different way of looking at furniture design. For the first time we had the technology to produce light furniture, visually and literally. This general lightness quality that is linked with post war design depended for the most part on the availability of new construction methods and materials (Pile, 358). Only when compared to their bulky, overstuffed ancestor can the post war shell like chairs be truly appreciated in their likeness of airy furniture. The difference is beyond belief, but then again it was the time for change.

From the Industrial Revolution to the present day, two main streams have existed: those who work with th

Some topics in this essay:
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