CHARLES EAMES

Charles and Raye Eames are so famous - so iconic - that an entire era has been named after them, at least on eBay. And now there's a new postage stamp collection honoring them.

Eames US Postage Stamp- due to be issued next summer

I had the pleasure of meeting Charles, but not Raye, Eames in the late sixties at a  conference at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado.  My parents dragged me along that summer, hoping, I suppose, to enjoy some time with their still somewhat rebellious teenager.  One evening Charles screened a film he and Raye had made  -The Powers Of Ten. This was the first version. Nine years later they released a second version.

You can see the second version on youTube.

That evening, Eames took questions from the audience. I had sat spellbound throughout the film. It probably wasn't too easy to capture my imagination that summer, but this film took my breath away. Apparently I managed to ask an intelligent question, because he sought me out after the film. I was with my parents - it was all on the up and up.

After Aspen, my parents and I traveled to Los Angeles where we met up once again with Charles -but not Raye - Eames, to discuss schools, and the design of schools, with someone else who had been at the Aspen Conference. I apologize for my hazy memory here, I don't remember who this other guy was or anything that was said.

Raye and Charles Eames, photo by George Platt Lynes

Later that year I  started working full time at the Pacifica Radio station WBAI-FM in New York City, and was producing their live performance series, The Free Music Store. I scheduled a screening of The Powers of Ten to coincide with an Eames visit to NYC. He was designing a huge exhibit at the time, I think at IBM.

For some reason, I decided to screen early Betty Boop cartoons with The Powers of Ten. For some reason, Charles thought this was a great idea. Remember, this was way before VCRs or DVD, and Betty Boop was not seen often on TV or anywhere else.

Amy Crehore loves Betty, too. Check out her blog

Charles and I spent part of the afternoon together while he showed me the exhibit he was putting together. Later in the evening, I picked him up at his hotel and we went over to the hall we'd rented. This was before WBAI started having concerts in the renovated church we later used for studios, offices and productions.

We screened the film to a packed audience. Charles spoke and answered questions. After the screening, we parted, and I never saw him again.

Almost forty years later, it still amazes me that this design genius was kind enough, interested enough, and open enough, to appreciate the ideas of a nineteen year old just beginning to make her way in the world as an adult. He never condescended to me. On the contrary, he took me and my ideas seriously. What better way could there be for a young person to enter into the grown up world of design and information.

My deepest thanks and yes, love, to Charles Eames.

Go buy some stamps! (when they're issued, that is.)

Comments

[lotusgreen]

that's a great story. and cool about the stamps. my parents actually had two of those chairs! of course i didn't know what they were at the time, just "my dad's chair" and "my mom's desk chair."

i did buckminster fuller's 'world game' in 1970 and they screened powers of ten for us too. wow. you're right. (but not betty boop!)

[liza cowan]

Lotus, how amazing that you were at BuckminsterFuller's World Game. I'd love to read a first person account, if you've ever written about it.

We had molded fiberglass Eames rocking chair growing up, and I have a vivid memory of my brother getting the Eames leather padded lounge chair for his twenty first birthday. I thought it was the most heavenly thing I'd ever sat on. Unlike the molded fiberglass chairs, which weren't.

Now, I'm most interested in the plywood furniture. But I'd take anything Eames.

[eb]

what a cool story Liza - are you the young girl in the photo? - will have to see 10 AND get some stamps for sure - I'm sending mail art to myself...

xox - eb.

[liza cowan]

Thanks, EB. No, the "young girl" in the photo was Ray Eames, Charles Eames's work and life partner. They were just very different heights.

[eb]

well - yes - now I see - I guess I was looking for you - and well... she could resemble you... or vice versa...

a lovely photo and such great work

xox - eb.