The Aluminium Group Chair by Charles and Ray Eames

Making the switch to working from home calls for a chair that can do double duty.

The Aluminium Group Chair, created in 1958.

Not many chairs can make the transition from office chair to dining chair without losing something in the process.

The Aluminium Group Chair, designed by Charles and Ray Eames and manufactured by Herman Miller is an exception to the rule: it’s a chair that has been popular in offices for more than 50 years, but also works well as a dining chair. It’s the perfect all in one.

Eames chairs fThe Aluminium Group Chair,

But the item that has become an icon of modern furniture design was originally conceived as an outdoor chair. In 1958 architect Eero Saarinen asked Charles and Ray Eames to design outdoor seating for a house he and Alexander Girard were creating in Columbus, Indiana, for the industrialist J. Irwin Miller. The Eameses’ innovative design used aluminium for the frame because of its suitability for the outdoors, and upholstered the chairs in a mesh fabric stretched between the edges of the frame – which had the added benefit of making them extremely comfortable.

The Aluminium Group Chair.

The chair’s seat-back suspension was a major technical achievement and represented a radical departure from the concept of a chair as a solid, padded upholstered object. This one was originally conceived as a low lounge-style chair and was soon put to use in indoor settings.

The Aluminium Group chairs come in a range of styles, from high-back to lounge chairs (with or without arms), with casters or fixed legs, and upholstered in mesh, fabric or leather upholstery. Available in a range of colours, fabrics and styles from Living Edge.

livingedge.com.au