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The Eames name is synonymous with mid-century modern.  So many of their designs are well known and many continue to influence modern design today.  If longevity is a mark of success, then the various chairs from the Eames Aluminum group are amongst the most successful of modern furniture designs.  Designed in 1956, they have been in continuous production for almost 60 years.  Their stylishly simple and ergonomic design has been copied by many producers.

Most of my restorations are case pieces and nearly all have wood components.  These chairs took me back to my roots.  Before I was a modern design junkie and furniture restorer I was a cyclist.  Back in the day when I was starting out the finest bicycle components came from Italy and were made of aluminum.  I used to take every piece apart and polish it until it gleamed like chrome.  Every bolt was removed, even the insides of parts were polished. 

I've been working on these chairs for a few weeks.  The aluminum frames and bases were oxidized and pitted.  The arms of the chairs originally had a clear plastic (or lacquer?) coating on them.  When I acquired these the coating on the arms all had cracked, some only had about half the coating on them.  I removed it all and polished the arms as well as the frames and bases.  The fabric was quite dirty but other than a little lost of color saturation is in good shape.  They have been returned to nearly their new glory.  The tags remain on 3 of the 4 and show a 11-8-80 delivery date.  Because of their iconic, collectable status, these will remain in the Modwerks collection.  Now I just have to figure out where to put them!