The Films of
Charles & Ray
Eames

» introduction
» blacktop
» toccata for toy trains
» house
» what is design?
» glimpses of usa
» kaleidoscope jazz chair
» spirit of st. louis
» powers of ten
» tops
» timeline
» author information
» bibliography

“We have not supposed there is a poetry of ideas.”
– Charles Eames

Chuck Pratt
Architecture 4395
The Constructive Vision
Prof. Ed Baum
Fall 2003

Charles was asked to bring photos of the Eames Office to a talk he was giving in England. But he felt that pictures of the office would not convey the true nature of the work done there. It also violated his sense of the guest:host relationship; i.e. that “the blood doesn't show.” So he asked the office guys to rig an attachment of mirrors to the camera, and they filmed the office that way. It was a classic “Eames Joke.”

Later, the kaleidoscope was attached to the camera again for “Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair,” a film about their ubiquitous plastic chair.