Charles Eames Birthday & Fun Facts

Charles Eames Birthday Highlights

Birth Name

Charles Ormond Eames Jr.

Place Of Birth

St. Louis, USA

Age

116 years old

Birth Date

June 16 1907

Charles Eames Facts

Child Star?

no

Occupation

Film Maker, Architect and Designer

Education & Qualifications

Yeatman High School

Net Worth

$3,000,000

Current Partner

Ray Eames

Children

Lucia Dewey Eames

Parents

Charles Eames Sr., Marie Adele Celine Eames

Siblings

Adele Eames

Charles Eames was a famous American designer, architect, and filmmaker who was born on June 17, 1907, in St. Louis, Missouri, the United States.

In collaboration with his wife, Ray Eames, he made seminal contributions to architecture, furniture design, manufacturing, industrial design, and photographic arts. Several pieces of furniture designed by Charles Eames were placed at the top position in the Organic Design category in the Home Furnishing Competition organized by the Museum of Modern Art located in New York.

What was Charles Eames’ net worth?

As per the data for 2022, Charles Eames has an estimated total net worth of about $3 million. The maximum of his earnings came from his primary profession as an architect and designer.

How much did Charles Eames earn per year?

Charles Eames never disclosed his annual earnings.

How tall is Charles Eames?

Charles Eames's height is not known.

How old is Charles Eames?

Charles Eames was 70 years old when he died on August 21, 1978, while visiting St. Louis. He was born on June 17, 1907, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Charles Eames was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States.

He was born to his father, Charles Eames Sr., a railway security officer, and his mother, Marie Adele Celine Eames. He had an older sister named Adele Eames.

Charles was admitted to Yeatman High School, where he gained an interest in architecture and photography. On a scholarship, Charles studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. He dropped out of university after two years of studies. According to several stories, he was fired because he supported Frank Lloyd Wright and his interest in modern architects. He was dropped from the university due to his 'too modern' viewpoints. Other sources, less commonly stated, state that Charles Eames worked as an architect at Trueblood and Graf while still a student. Sleep deprivation and poor performance at university resulted from the demands on his time from this job and his academics.

Who was Charles Eames’ partner?

In 1929, Charles Eames married Catherine Woermann, whom he met at Washington University. In 1930, the couple became parents to a sweet little daughter, Lucia Dewey Eames. Later in 1941, the couple got divorced.

After that, in the same year, i.e., 1941, Charles again tied the knot with Ray Kaiser, who was his Cranbrook colleague. The couple then shifted to Los Angeles, California, during their honeymoon. They settled and lived there until their deaths.

Charles Eames was able to get a scholarship to study architecture at Washington University. His dedication to the works of Frank Lloyd Wright acted as an impediment in his studies, as the tutors were not impressed by this approach by Charles Eames, and as a result, he was compelled to abandon his studies after a period of two years. 

His introduction to Ray Kaiser was at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in the year 1940. He had been able to secure admission to the academy on the recommendation of Eliel Saarinen. Charles Eames was offered admission to an industrial design fellowship but was soon promoted to the position of instructor. 

Subsequently, Charles entered into a furniture competition with his friend Eero Saarinen. This competition was organized by the Museum of Modern Art. The main aim of Saarinen and Exames was to ensure the molding of a single piece of plywood into a chair. This ingenuity and skills helped with their work and, thus, the organic chair was created for the first time.

While the organic chair managed to get the first prize in the competition, it was not possible to mold such cairns on a mass scale, resulting in several failed attempts. As a result, Charles Eames and Saarinen regarded their design as a failure due to the fact that the necessary equipment and tooling to create a chair from one piece of wood had not been created till that time.

Best Known For…

His excellent work in graphic design and film. He also made huge contributions to architecture, furniture design, manufacturing, industrial design, and photography, along with his wife, Ray Eames.

Charity Work

Charles Eames established a foundation named 'Eames Foundation', whose main aim was to preserve and maintain the Eames house and create educational experiences. This can entice people interested in new ways of communication.

What awards did Charles Eames win?

Charles and his wife, Ray Eames, received a Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute Of British Architects in 1979 for designing the Eames fabric.

Charles Eames’ Hobbies And Interests

Charles Eames developed his interest in fashion design, theater, and the arts very early. Apart from this, the other hobbies and interests of Charles Eames are not known yet.

• Charles Eames was born with the Gemini birth sign.
• Charles started his architectural practice with his partner, Charles Grey, in St. Louis in 1930.
• In a handwritten letter, Charles expressed his love for his spouse Ray.
• Eliel Saarinen, a Finnish architect, significantly influenced Charles Eames.
• Charles relocated to Michigan in 1938 with his then-wife Catherine and daughter Lucia at the request of the elder Saarinen to continue his architectural studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
• Charles rose quickly through the ranks to become an instructor and the department's head of industrial design.
• Along with Eero Saarinen, Charles collaborated on prize-winning furniture for the Museum of Modern Arts 'Organic Design in Home Furnishings' competition in New York.
• When they collaborated, Charles and Ray Eames became two of the most well-known and famous designers of the twentieth century.
• The classic black chair, featured in the long-running BBC television show called 'Mastermind', was designed by Charles Eames.
• On August 21, 1978, while on a consulting trip in Saint Louis, Charles Eames died of a heart attack. He was laid to rest in St. Louis's Calvary Cemetery. He was recently honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
• Charles Eames delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University in 1970 and 1971. The Eames philosophy and outlook are explained during the lectures through Charles' narration of 'the banana leaf fable,' a banana leaf being the most fundamental eating utensil in southern India. He explained how the banana leaf is transformed into something exquisite through the process of design.
• During World War II, he designed and built furniture for the US Navy, including stretchers.
• Frank Lloyd Wright and the Modernist movement were two of Eames' favorite architects.
• He participated in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition organized in the year 1947. Their entry was the Bridge House, which was unbuilt, but the competition was won by Eero Saarinen, who'd designed the St. Louis Gateway Arch.
• Under the Case Study program that was sponsored by the 'Arts and Architecture Magazine', Charles and Ray Eames designed their own home located in the Pacific Palisades area of California.
• Charles Eames met his first wife, Catherine Woermann, at Washington University. The couple got married in the year 1929. Together, they had a daughter, Lucia Eames, but the couple separated in the year 1941. He subsequently married his second wife, Ray Eames, who went on to become his design partner.
• Charles Eames designed St. Mary's Catholic Church in Helena, Arkansas. This creation got him the fellowship to pursue architecture at ‘Cranbrook Academy of Art'. This is where he met his future wife, Ray Kaiser, who was a student at the academy and also assisted with graphic design.

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