Biography Charles Eames
(b. St. Louis, Missouri 1907; d. St. Louis 1978)
Charles Ormand Eames was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1907. In 1924 he began his architectural studies at Washington University. In 1929 he traveled to Europe where he came in contact with the theories of the Modern Movement. Upon his return, he established the firm of Gray and Eames. Eames' work from the 1930s consisted mainly of designs for stained glass, textiles, furniture and ceramics. In 1938 he received a fellowship to Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, where he studied under and collaborated with Eero Saarinen.
In 1941 Eames moved to California with his wife, Ray Kaiser. Once there, they formed a design partnership that covered a wide spectrum of design fields. Two houses he completed in this period creatively applied a Japanese simplicity to modern buildings. Eames continued to work as an architect until the mid 1960s after which he concentrated on furniture design, film-making and exhibition design. Eames died in St. Louis, Missouri in 1978.
Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p47.

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