Upcoming Events:
Saturday June 22, 2013, we celebrate Members Appreciation Day, our annual thank you for Members. We’re planning for members to enjoy an interior tour of the Eames House, a bit of dessert, games and conversation with fellow Eames aficionados.
Past Events:
- Visit Indoor Ecologies: the Evolution of the Eames House Living Room at the Eames House from October 15, 2011 through April 30, 2012. We are delighted to be an Exhibition Partner with Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. As with all visits to the House, appointments are required.
The journey of creating the Eames House—and the finished product—resonates with many of the themes of the Eameses’ other work: the guest/host relationship, the honest use of materials, universalizing from the specific, and, above all, the learn-by-doing process. Over the years, what began as an empty living room became a sort of “climax community” exemplifying their iterative process.
The exhibit will explore this journey through photos, interviews and the memories of family and friends, as well as the recreation of several early living room arrangements. By exploring changes and additions through the years, visitors will gain a greater understanding of the Eameses’ processes and vision, their seamless integration of work and play, and a fresh perspective on the House as a space for living—a flexible frame designed to accommodate changing needs in which indoors and outdoors blend seamlessly.
- Visit the Essential Eames: The Design of Knowledge exhibit at the Eames Office through
October 31, 2012.
Essential Eames explores the classic yet contemporary educational philosophies of Charles and Ray Eames through an intimate look at their films, exhibitions, presentations, and former staff members’ recollections. Although the husband-and-wife team is known primarily for furniture design, this exhibition concentrates on the Eameses’ playful but sharply focused approach to working, teaching, learning, and communicating ideas. Essential Eames also considers their methodologies through showcasing and examining pivotal works from their first exhibition, Mathematica: A World of Numbers…and Beyond, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
- On June 12, 2010, we celebrated Members Appreciation Day, our annual thank you for Members, with a Powers of Ten flair. Members enjoyed an interior tour of the Eames House, a delicious lunch, games and conversation with fellow Eames aficionados. As usual, the closing game turned high stakes: the prize was a set of House Industry’s Eames House blocks—one of the first two produced. Who would have thought a friendly game of bingo (with each guest making his own card with Powers of Ten images) would turn so cut-throat? And with tension high, one contestant even demanded: Call the next power! (Which the grinning MC rewarded with yet another story.) At the day’s end, a few guests joined family and staff down at the Eames Office to enjoy the Powers of Ten exhibit. To learn more about Members Appreciation Day, please click here.
- Eames family members plus former staff of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames gave tours of the Eames House to employees and friends of House Industries on March 11, 2010. A great kick-off for House Industries’ new Eames font, which was officially inaugurated with a high-voltage party that night at the Eames Office, complete with live music, food and print-making (a pick-your-Eames-font-symbol).
- Two events in two days in two cities… Too insane. We celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the Eames House with a weekend filled with rare peeks into the Eameses’ life, work and philosophy. Saturday, 6/20/09, was Members Appreciation Day at the Eames House. Guests toured Charles and Ray’s home (yes, inside!), had a delicious lunch, solved a rebus sent by Charles to his young daughter (with a grand prize of a pink plastic-molded Eames elephant), and joined in many other Eames-related activities. Sunday, 6/21/09, was our First Annual Charles & Ray Eames Foundation Fundraiser in Northern California: guests enjoyed Daughter Lucia Eames’ collection of the Eameses’ work (from chairs and Mathematica exhibits to films and photos), created kites, examined scale with Powers of Ten and then enjoyed a feast. Click here to see photos from Sunday!
Thanks to all attendees for helping to preserve a key facet of the Eames legacy: the Eames House. And kudus to those amazing stalwarts who made both events!
- A House Stamp!!! (As well as all those other stamps, from chairs to toys to film to sculpture.) Thanks to designer Derry Noyes and the U.S. Postal Service for an amazing First Day of Issue, held at the Eames Office, on 6/17/2008… Charles Eames’ 101 birthday.
- National Historic Landmark Dedication Ceremony: On June 17, 2007, the 100th anniversary of Charles Eames’ birth, the Eames House was formally declared a National Historic Landmark. We are STILL ecstatic! Roughly 200 people joined the family for brunch and a celebratory toast, as Elaine Jackson-Retondo from the National Park Service officially presented the plaque marking the House’s special status to Charles’ daughter, Lucia Eames. We felt it was only right to bring out and play the very organ grinder from the Office of Charles and Ray Eames that we remembered as kids cranking up with Charles.
- National Historic Landmark Declaration: On 9/20/06, the Eames House was declared a National Landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Click here to follow the link to the current National Park Service’s NHL Program listing for the Eames House.
- Eames Foundation created in 2004 to preserve the Eames House and to extend their legacy to future generations.