Beth Topping
KCRW, December 10, 2011
blogs.kcrw.com
Collecting Eames: The JF CHEN Collection
This massive collection of Eames design and production history, on show in the Highland Avenue warehouse of the inimitable antique dealer Joel Chen, includes more than 400 pieces and spans nearly six decades, from 1939 to 1998. Chen began the collection when he bought 175 pieces from Eames scholar and collector, Daniel Ostroff.
Curated by Ostroff (seen here with Bookworm’s Michael Silverblatt at a recent KCRW staff tour of the show) the collection evokes a museum exhibition, rather than a simple tableau of gallery pieces. It includes a timeline, with some of Charles Eames’ earliest and rarest collaborations with Eero Saarinen. Their 1940 molded wood chair with a fabric covering was created for MoMa’s Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition. It is a beautiful and embryonic example of the molded plywood chairs whose design and production would become a near obsession for Charles and Ray Eames in later years.
The collection also exemplifies key philosophies of the Eames. Because their designs were based on need and utility and not simply aesthetics, Charles and Ray always sought to improve their furniture. The timeline shows the gradual changes in materials and design as technology and experience guided them.
The Eames are also famous for producing “the best for the most for the least,” making affordable, quality pieces to last a lifetime (their furniture was mostly made in America by Herman Miller, whose workers made a comfortable enough wage to put their children through college). One great example of this quality craftsmanship is a single family collection from the Valastro family, who bought a nine piece set of Eames furniture with their dowry when they married in 1954. Even after continuous use (with two boys in the home), the furniture is still intact and fully functioning, having been removed from the Valastro home in 2009.