Vitra Eames Fiberglass Chairs

In 1948, Charles and Ray Eames entered the Museum of Modern Art's International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design with a chair featuring a seat shell moulded to the contours of the human body — and a concept for a variety of interchangeable bases. Their design won second prize. The metal shell proved too complex and expensive for mass production, so the Eameses turned to glassfibre reinforced polyester resin, a material then restricted almost entirely to military applications such as aircraft radomes and cockpit covers.

They recognised and fully exploited the advantages of fibreglass: mouldability, rigidity, and suitability for industrial manufacturing. With this material — previously unknown in the furniture industry — they successfully developed the moulded seat shells for mass production. The Fiberglass Chair was born. Its organically shaped, one-piece shell was a much-admired innovation at a time when chairs typically consisted of a separate seat and backrest, offering both pleasant tactile qualities and a perfectly moulded form for optimal comfort.

Charles and Ray developed a striking series of individual bases that could be freely combined with these shells — from the Eiffel Tower version in welded steel wire to the wooden base reinforced with metal struts. This combination of revolutionary seat shells and innovative bases gave the chair family the iconic traits that remain instantly recognisable today. They also attached great importance to colour: fibreglass had previously existed only in a colourless version, and the Eameses spent many days in the factory mixing hues for countless prototypes to find shades that best accentuated the organic shape of both shell forms — with and without armrests.

The first colours developed were greige (a mix of grey and beige), elephant hide grey — to which Charles referred when he said "What I really want is a black with feeling" — and the slightly transparent tone parchment. Sea foam green, yellow, ochre, and red followed shortly after. The Fiberglass Chairs were launched in 1950, introducing a new furniture typology that has since become widespread: the multifunctional chair whose shell can be combined with a variety of bases to serve different purposes. Over the following decades, the Fiberglass Chairs became one of the best-known furniture designs of the twentieth century.

The Eames Fiberglass Chairs are available alongside the Eames Plastic Chairs with polypropylene shells. Together the two chair groups form an extensive family, with a version suited to almost every setting and requirement.