A Meeting of the Minds: When Eames Met BAPE

The history of mid-century modern furniture and the enduring appeal of hyped streetwear are stories built on a similar premise: low-cost products united with high-minded design. Charles and Ray Eames’ iconic side chair, cheap bape outlet a molded polyester seat reinforced with glass fibers, set atop an intersection of wire struts, originally debuted in 1950. It was conceived two years prior, as an entry for the International Competition for the Design of Low-Cost Furniture.

Charles Eames’ design for La Chaise won the second prize for its innovative base, and literally set the foundation for future iterations that are highly regarded as modern design marvels. Originally molded in steel, the Eameses sought to improve on their designs and bring the final cost down. If they could figure out how to mass produce their arm chair at a favorable cost, then the less-complicated side chair would follow.

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At first, the Eameses sough the help of John Wills, a boat builder and fiberglass manufacturer who had developed a technique for curing fiberglass at room temperature. The original sample armchair cost $25 to produce. But it wasn’t until Zenith Plastics got involved in September 1949 that the fiberglass chairs finally went into production.

Working with Irv Green and Sol Fingerhut, two researchers with plenty of experience working at fiberglass manufacturer Owens Corning, a four-hour conversation with Charles Eames outlining his goals for the project and the intricate hurdles they faced led to some creative problem-solving that eventually became a one-page agreement—and then 2,000 shell chairs.