(Source: Eames Exhibit, Art & Science Museum)
"Take your pleasure seriously" - The Eames
The Art & Science Museum currently has an awesome exhibit, "Essential Eames," which I visited over the weekend (the previous exhibit was also pretty amazing, The Art of Brick).
Charles & Ray were two pieces of the same puzzle -- meant for each other.
They loved each other.
They shared life together.
They created together.
I usually just associate chairs with Eames (we have several knock-offs around our apartment), but I learned this dynamic duo was so much more...
In addition to prolific furniture designers, they were architects, filmmakers, photographers, toy creators and exhibition designers. True polymaths.
Their list of creations even includes: the Mathematica: A World of Numbers & Beyond exhibit at the California Museum of Industry & Sciences, fabric patterns and an adorable House of Cards games.
(Source: Ray Eames at Mathematic, Blog Arena)
(Source: Ray Eames and her fabric pattern, Science Blogs)
(Source: House of Cards, Wikipedia)
"Genius? Nothing -- We just worked harder" - Charles Eames
"Toys are not really as innocent as they look. Toys and games can be precursors to serious ideas" - Charles Eames
These two quotes make me love Ray & Charles (for more quotes, check out Brain Pickings).
They worked hard. Really hard. There's a myth that creative geniuses are born, not made; they don't need to work at their craft. I think this myth discourages people from trying and encourages people to believe that they are not creative.
They believed that work and pleasure could be beautiful intertwined, which was embodied in their Case Study #8 House (otherwise known as the "Eames House"). Although I've blogged before about being pro less work (here, here, here), I might change my tune if work mirrored my personal life (luckily, with my new YouTube role, it's becoming more that way!).
They focused on the things that interested in them. Charles Eames traveled to Mexico in his early twenties. While there, he realized he could easily sustain himself on very little; from there, he vowed to work on the things that interested him, rather than working on things for money. Charles & Ray followed this mantra throughout his life.
They played. As we get older, we generally play less. We put away the forts and finger paints for more adult leisure activities, like watching TV and browsing Facebook. Ray and Charles never lost their sense of play.
They never fully grew up -- and isn't the world so much better because of that?
(Source: Ray at "serious play", Adobe Airstream)
I loved the exhibit so much that I now have their documentary on my to watch list.
PS - If you're interested in learning more about the Eames, here's a good start
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