Chair
Maker & role
Charles Eames (b.1907, d.1978), Designer; Herman Miller Furniture Co (estab. 1923), Manufacturer; Ray Eames (b.1912, d.1988), Designer
Production date
1951-1956
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Object detail
Title
'LCM' chair
Production place
Collection
Measurements
0 - Whole, H: 69 x W: 56 x D: 64cm (H: 690 x W: 560 x D: 640mm); 0 - Whole, H: 69cm (H: 690mm); 0 - Whole, W: 56cm (W: 560mm); 0 - Whole, D: 64cm (D: 640mm); seat height, H: 39cm (H: 390mm)
Signature & marks
Steel frame inscribed: 'XV'.
Label to base of chair: 'Charles Eames design / Herman Miller-zeeland-michigan'
Label to base of chair: 'Charles Eames design / Herman Miller-zeeland-michigan'
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, by Harry Seidler AC OBE, 1987
Rose Seidler House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Rose Seidler House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
'LCM' chair, designed by Charles & Ray Eames and manufactured by Herman Miller, USA, 1951-1956.
Description
This chair is known as an LCM (Lounge Chair on Metal base). While stylistically similar to the DCM (Dining Chair on Metal) range, the LCM chairs were shorter and wider. The Rose Seidler House collection includes five LCMs and 15 similar DCMs. Architect Harry Seidler stated that prior to his 1948 arrival in Sydney, 'my parents... warned me of the fact there was no modern furniture available in Australia' so he ordered DCMs and LCMs in the United States of America before he departed. Seidler subscribed to the idea that quality of life can be improved by the best of functional and flexible design and the DCMs and LCMs satisfied those notions. He continued to use DCMs and LCMs in a number of his house designs in the 1950s.
Charles Eames had first began experimenting with plywood in the late 1930s, and during World War II, with his wife Ray, designed plywood leg splints for injured soldiers for the US navy. Informed by early trouble moulding single pieces of plywood, the Eames opted for using two separate pieces of plywood joined with metal rods in his DCM and LCM ranges, as the smaller pieces were less prone to cracking. The leg splints and the first DCMs, including most of the ones at Rose Seidler House, were manufactured by the Evans Plywood Company. This particular chair has a slightly later label indicating it was made by the Herman Miller company. Herman Miller had originally distributed the chairs, but purchased the manufacturing operation in 1949.
Charles Eames had first began experimenting with plywood in the late 1930s, and during World War II, with his wife Ray, designed plywood leg splints for injured soldiers for the US navy. Informed by early trouble moulding single pieces of plywood, the Eames opted for using two separate pieces of plywood joined with metal rods in his DCM and LCM ranges, as the smaller pieces were less prone to cracking. The leg splints and the first DCMs, including most of the ones at Rose Seidler House, were manufactured by the Evans Plywood Company. This particular chair has a slightly later label indicating it was made by the Herman Miller company. Herman Miller had originally distributed the chairs, but purchased the manufacturing operation in 1949.
Accession number
RSH88/2-4
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