I've been lusting over the Eames lounge chair for years now. Anytime I pass an Eames chair at a furniture store or showroom, I can't resist sitting in it for a few seconds. Ever since moving back to Chicago from Oregon in 2004, every piece of furniture I've bought for my living room has been selected with the idea in mind that it will eventually need to coordinate with the Eames chair that I will someday purchase.
One of the perks of being in the design business is that we constantly get wined and dined by those who stand to gain from our services. Herman Miller is one such company, and they know how to throw a damn good party.
Well, last night at Herman Miller's big annual shin-dig at the Merchandise Mart, they had a drawing for the 50th Anniversary Eames lounge chair and ottoman, and the business card of yours truly was pulled out of the hat. Woot!
Finish selections are up to me... I'm going for the new Santos Palisander wood veneer, and black Edelman leather. Now let's see how long it takes for my cat to throw up on it....
I have that IKEA chair as well... It's actually very comfortable, but like you say, it's no match for an Eames. Once the Eames chair moves in, the IKEA chair is being evicted.
the second major furniture purchase i ever made was the
lounge chair and ottoman...the first being the eams plywood
lounge chair...(third being an original (i think) eames rocking chair)
the lounge chair is definitely good for napping and the leather
has aged gracefully. i don't know if everyone is aware, but architects
get about 50% off list at herman miller...so the chair and ottoman
go for about 2k instead of 4...and the plywood chair sells for about
$250 instead of $500.
LIG, i'm so jealous. I had the same fantasy about that Eames chair. I don't care if it's TOO famous, I love it! I even thought about trying to get a part time job at the Herman Miller store that opened on my street, no more than a block away, so perhaps I could afford to buy one.
Then again, I wouldn't be looking for a job if I had ANY money to spare, so it all seems to fruitless.
WonderK: Alas, I've already promised the IKEA chair to a local friend of mine.
The finishes choices for the wood shells are cherry, natural cherry, walnut, or santos palisander veneer. The Herman Miller website doesn't list the leather choices, but I know there's a pretty wide variety of options available.
next new project, i am gonna get me this office chair i saw in julie's house. it is an eames knock off for 225$ and really comfortable. i need a new office chair. the one i've found in the alley is no good no more. oh, it is called 'lider chair'. a great chair at affordable price. now that i am getting important e mails from top architects, i need a better do. or don't, which i like better. but it is my ass and old age really.
But please don't take that as sour grapes, LIG, sorry: congratulations on winning the lounge, it is an iconic piece and you will haveand love it forever I am sure - a sweet win!
i picked a pair of these up at a yard sale 3 years ago, the owner who died a year or two before had them since the 60's or 70's. there are no tags and i can't figure out who made these. oh and by the by i paid $70 for the pair, in real good shape, leather needs cleaning and chrome needs polishing.
I also agree A, I never cared for it either. But congrats for winning. I love winning stuff. Especially if it's something your really like. I won a Shoney's watch in a coloring contest once. I love my IKEA poang chair. I'm not much of a stickler for 'original/official' stuff in most cases. I love IKEA!!
i never liked eames lounge either. it propogates too much of material and tv viewing. and here is the final slugger.;)
i don't mentally feel comfortable in them. out of all eames chairs, that one has the worst upholstery job, imo.
probably i still soo don't get it.
but they are really pushing them this year for some reason. every eames post card or other material i get from furniture places and eames foundation, has a lounge chair/ottoman give away bonus something.
the chair I really want is the real eames office chair, the one with long back and no armrest, no casters
There used to be one or two of these in the UCLA library of arts before they renovated the building.
mdler, sorry i meant the manufacturer, i know breuer made them...and you know what they really aren't that bad to sit in, not the lounge chair but not horrible either...i can't figure out if they're knoll...
i have a wassily chair in my bedroom, buried under a massive pile of clothes. my mom bought a pair when she lived in chicago around 20 years ago and we brought them with us when we moved down to florida. i remember when i was a kid i pretended the arm rests were landing strips for my toy airplanes.... so yeah, the leather is badly scratched on them :/
hehe, ditto on the IKEA aalto alike, at a choice between £3000 at least for an original and £50 for the Poang, no competition...didn't get the foot stool though, curses...
HM offers a huge discount off the list price, but last I looked (which was a while ago), the list is about 30% higher than what places actually sell things for.
I was going to buy a plywood lounge and it'd cost me a little over $400. Everywhere sells them for about $500-550. It's a savings, but it's not 50% off what they really cost.
Someone correct me if I am wrong...I hope I am...I'll be buying come Monday morn if I am!
I wish the contemporary stuff like B & B Italia and Cassina offered a discount...guess they don't really care about architects/int designers...
*sigh*
If I remember correctly they are pushing the Eames lounge chairs this year because it is the 50th anniversary of the design or something like that. It's possible that I made that up, my memory is terrible. But I could swear that I read that somewhere.
Yes, it is the 50th anniversary of the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. All Eames lounge chairs produced in 2006 will have a commemorative medallian affixed to the bottom of the seat. As such, Herman Miller has been actively hyping the chair this year.
The list price for the "regular" Eames chair and ottoman is about $3000, but the special-edition santos palisander wood veneer boosts the price to about $4000. IIRC, the Edelman leather option boots the price even further. I'm pretty sure the designer discount is roughly 50%.
One of my professors have that same chair, and possibly an original from that era too! Recently, we got one of these Ekornes stressless. They don't have that pedigree of Eames or Aalto but they are really really comfortable, and ergonomically very well designed. I thought the lines are very modern as well!
you can get the eames in a rosewood now, which was one of the original finishes available. however, due to the endagered-ness of rosewood, they ceased production some time ago. but recently there's a new sustainable rosewood, so if you donate something like $5 large to the eames foundation, you get an eames chair in rosewood... so deliciously good. i love rosewood.
beta, it'd be interesting to bring yours to an appraiser. they may be worth quite a bit, but at the same time, you might find out that they're fakes, which were not uncommon. I found a fake eames lounge chair some time ago. almost paid like $700 for it as it was well used, but something seemed wrong about it. the proportions didn't seem right and the connecting details seemed crude. went to DWR for a comparison and it was def. not the same.
this thread is starting to sound like a mid-century modern version of antiques roadshoad.
The "new" sustainable rosewood finish is the Santo Palisander mentioned above... At the beginning of the year it was only available through the Eames foundation for $6500, but it has been available directly from Herman Miller for $4000 since May.
My partner and his partner built their kitchen cabinets three years ago out of kingwood veneer ply, at around $600/shhet at the time. Apparently kingwood now sells for about $8,000/sheet today. At least their kitchen is beautiful, so a good use of a now endangered wood!
I have a copy of the eames lounge and ottoman and you can recognize it by the details of the back and base. mine has the connection between the seat and the back in wood and the real one is metal.
well, I got it for nothing from a friend who had it in storage, and fake or no, it's still comfortable
(i'm curoius...anyone ever sat in this thing by Gehry? Like Prince's Purple Rain, I'm obsessed with this thing and am too embarassed to talk about it openly with friends.)
congrats gin. Once, I won a pack of stickers from the Nintendo Power Club. This is a far-off comparison, but like you, my number is due any day now.
i think there should be a photo scavengar hunt opened up to the person who can present a picture of themselves with this face on:
seated in the above chair
followup on the Gehry chair: sat in it. It has a flat seat parallel to the ground with slightly sloped back, and the back had a sharp corner. as a result, you slide out of it, and leaning into it drives the top corner into your back. Possibly good as temporary outdoor seating, which i guess was the point, but i'm over my obsession with it as a result.
Congrats, Gin. time for me to try and score some free digs.
My preciousssss!
I've been lusting over the Eames lounge chair for years now. Anytime I pass an Eames chair at a furniture store or showroom, I can't resist sitting in it for a few seconds. Ever since moving back to Chicago from Oregon in 2004, every piece of furniture I've bought for my living room has been selected with the idea in mind that it will eventually need to coordinate with the Eames chair that I will someday purchase.
One of the perks of being in the design business is that we constantly get wined and dined by those who stand to gain from our services. Herman Miller is one such company, and they know how to throw a damn good party.
Well, last night at Herman Miller's big annual shin-dig at the Merchandise Mart, they had a drawing for the 50th Anniversary Eames lounge chair and ottoman, and the business card of yours truly was pulled out of the hat. Woot!
Finish selections are up to me... I'm going for the new Santos Palisander wood veneer, and black Edelman leather. Now let's see how long it takes for my cat to throw up on it....
nice, you lucky lucky fellow!!!
every year i entertain the idea of buying one - but then the small practical matter of money appears.
enjoy!
wow gin, i only got some free wine and cheese the other night when i went to the herman miller event for the my studio office shtuff. get a pink one!
A friend of mine has that chair. It's very cool for napping.
And Merchendice Mart eh? Was Neil Frankel there? A few of my friends from UWM are talking a studio there with him.
SO VERY VERY JEALOUS!!! that would be my finish selection too...
nice!
that is one nice chair. I'm making do with this Alto knock off from ikea. No comparison to Eames.
with
I have that IKEA chair as well... It's actually very comfortable, but like you say, it's no match for an Eames. Once the Eames chair moves in, the IKEA chair is being evicted.
the second major furniture purchase i ever made was the
lounge chair and ottoman...the first being the eams plywood
lounge chair...(third being an original (i think) eames rocking chair)
the lounge chair is definitely good for napping and the leather
has aged gracefully. i don't know if everyone is aware, but architects
get about 50% off list at herman miller...so the chair and ottoman
go for about 2k instead of 4...and the plywood chair sells for about
$250 instead of $500.
lig...i think you're gonna love it.
I'll take your IKEA chair.....my cat has been doing some peeing lately so I can empathize.....
Still, that's fantastic! What are the finish choices, anyway?
LIG, i'm so jealous. I had the same fantasy about that Eames chair. I don't care if it's TOO famous, I love it! I even thought about trying to get a part time job at the Herman Miller store that opened on my street, no more than a block away, so perhaps I could afford to buy one.
Then again, I wouldn't be looking for a job if I had ANY money to spare, so it all seems to fruitless.
WonderK: Alas, I've already promised the IKEA chair to a local friend of mine.
The finishes choices for the wood shells are cherry, natural cherry, walnut, or santos palisander veneer. The Herman Miller website doesn't list the leather choices, but I know there's a pretty wide variety of options available.
The Eames is comfortable, no doubt, but am I the only architect out there that doesn't like the style of it?
next new project, i am gonna get me this office chair i saw in julie's house. it is an eames knock off for 225$ and really comfortable. i need a new office chair. the one i've found in the alley is no good no more. oh, it is called 'lider chair'. a great chair at affordable price. now that i am getting important e mails from top architects, i need a better do. or don't, which i like better. but it is my ass and old age really.
Now that lider chair is something I could imagine in my house.
i can picture a cigar smoking suit wearing business man in that eames lounge chair
i won these at a herman miller event last winter!
they are only tiny minatures that my cat likes to knock over though.
CONGATS!!!! NICE STORY!
wearing a suit while smoking a cigar in a lounge chair is not very smart.
abra, rearranger "lider" and you get idler. think about it...
A, I'm with you - I have never found that chair to be visually appealing.
The Eames rocker, on the other hand, I have always loved aesthetically AND it was wonderfully comfy for rocking/nursing my son for a year.
vado, you are absolutely richtig. thank you for remindingen.
But please don't take that as sour grapes, LIG, sorry: congratulations on winning the lounge, it is an iconic piece and you will haveand love it forever I am sure - a sweet win!
i picked a pair of these up at a yard sale 3 years ago, the owner who died a year or two before had them since the 60's or 70's. there are no tags and i can't figure out who made these. oh and by the by i paid $70 for the pair, in real good shape, leather needs cleaning and chrome needs polishing.
I also agree A, I never cared for it either. But congrats for winning. I love winning stuff. Especially if it's something your really like. I won a Shoney's watch in a coloring contest once. I love my IKEA poang chair. I'm not much of a stickler for 'original/official' stuff in most cases. I love IKEA!!
i never liked eames lounge either. it propogates too much of material and tv viewing. and here is the final slugger.;)
i don't mentally feel comfortable in them. out of all eames chairs, that one has the worst upholstery job, imo.
probably i still soo don't get it.
but they are really pushing them this year for some reason. every eames post card or other material i get from furniture places and eames foundation, has a lounge chair/ottoman give away bonus something.
beta-
wassily chair - marcel breurer
that wassily chair is sooo uncomfortable.
the chair I really want is the real eames office chair, the one with long back and no armrest, no casters
There used to be one or two of these in the UCLA library of arts before they renovated the building.
mdler, sorry i meant the manufacturer, i know breuer made them...and you know what they really aren't that bad to sit in, not the lounge chair but not horrible either...i can't figure out if they're knoll...
betadinesutures, try a cool hot rod trick for cleaning the chrome: rub the chrome with Coke and tinfoil.
you lucky bastard. i'm jealous. I too have that white ikea chair.
i have a wassily chair in my bedroom, buried under a massive pile of clothes. my mom bought a pair when she lived in chicago around 20 years ago and we brought them with us when we moved down to florida. i remember when i was a kid i pretended the arm rests were landing strips for my toy airplanes.... so yeah, the leather is badly scratched on them :/
hehe, ditto on the IKEA aalto alike, at a choice between £3000 at least for an original and £50 for the Poang, no competition...didn't get the foot stool though, curses...
HM offers a huge discount off the list price, but last I looked (which was a while ago), the list is about 30% higher than what places actually sell things for.
I was going to buy a plywood lounge and it'd cost me a little over $400. Everywhere sells them for about $500-550. It's a savings, but it's not 50% off what they really cost.
Someone correct me if I am wrong...I hope I am...I'll be buying come Monday morn if I am!
I wish the contemporary stuff like B & B Italia and Cassina offered a discount...guess they don't really care about architects/int designers...
*sigh*
If I remember correctly they are pushing the Eames lounge chairs this year because it is the 50th anniversary of the design or something like that. It's possible that I made that up, my memory is terrible. But I could swear that I read that somewhere.
Yes, it is the 50th anniversary of the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. All Eames lounge chairs produced in 2006 will have a commemorative medallian affixed to the bottom of the seat. As such, Herman Miller has been actively hyping the chair this year.
The list price for the "regular" Eames chair and ottoman is about $3000, but the special-edition santos palisander wood veneer boosts the price to about $4000. IIRC, the Edelman leather option boots the price even further. I'm pretty sure the designer discount is roughly 50%.
One of my professors have that same chair, and possibly an original from that era too! Recently, we got one of these Ekornes stressless. They don't have that pedigree of Eames or Aalto but they are really really comfortable, and ergonomically very well designed. I thought the lines are very modern as well!
There're 2 of those chairs in my office's reception area. They're cool looking, but not to comfortable.
you can get the eames in a rosewood now, which was one of the original finishes available. however, due to the endagered-ness of rosewood, they ceased production some time ago. but recently there's a new sustainable rosewood, so if you donate something like $5 large to the eames foundation, you get an eames chair in rosewood... so deliciously good. i love rosewood.
oh. and i love these too:
beta, it'd be interesting to bring yours to an appraiser. they may be worth quite a bit, but at the same time, you might find out that they're fakes, which were not uncommon. I found a fake eames lounge chair some time ago. almost paid like $700 for it as it was well used, but something seemed wrong about it. the proportions didn't seem right and the connecting details seemed crude. went to DWR for a comparison and it was def. not the same.
this thread is starting to sound like a mid-century modern version of antiques roadshoad.
The "new" sustainable rosewood finish is the Santo Palisander mentioned above... At the beginning of the year it was only available through the Eames foundation for $6500, but it has been available directly from Herman Miller for $4000 since May.
My partner and his partner built their kitchen cabinets three years ago out of kingwood veneer ply, at around $600/shhet at the time. Apparently kingwood now sells for about $8,000/sheet today. At least their kitchen is beautiful, so a good use of a now endangered wood!
I have a copy of the eames lounge and ottoman and you can recognize it by the details of the back and base. mine has the connection between the seat and the back in wood and the real one is metal.
well, I got it for nothing from a friend who had it in storage, and fake or no, it's still comfortable
(i'm curoius...anyone ever sat in this thing by Gehry? Like Prince's Purple Rain, I'm obsessed with this thing and am too embarassed to talk about it openly with friends.)
congrats gin. Once, I won a pack of stickers from the Nintendo Power Club. This is a far-off comparison, but like you, my number is due any day now.
even if you dont win, i want to see you laughing in the purple rain!
vado, i never wanted to be your weekend lover, i only ever wanted to be your friend.
i think there should be a photo scavengar hunt opened up to the person who can present a picture of themselves with this face on:
seated in the above chair
*bump*
It's been delivered! Now if you'll pardon me, I've got some hardcore lounging to do.
this thread got bumped!
That's gangster, Gin.
followup on the Gehry chair: sat in it. It has a flat seat parallel to the ground with slightly sloped back, and the back had a sharp corner. as a result, you slide out of it, and leaning into it drives the top corner into your back. Possibly good as temporary outdoor seating, which i guess was the point, but i'm over my obsession with it as a result.
Congrats, Gin. time for me to try and score some free digs.
nice LIG. congrats. now why aren't you in that thing?
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