Ray Eames
The other half of the Eames duo.
Ray Eames was a painter and designer and as important as Charles to the couple's work, particularly in colour, form and exhibitions.
Ray Eames was born Bernice Alexandra Kaiser in 1912 in Sacramento, California. She studied painting in New York under the German artist Hans Hofmann, who brought European modernism to the United States. In 1936 she was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group and exhibited abstract paintings.
In 1940 she enrolled at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where she met Charles Eames and helped him and Eero Saarinen with a furniture competition. Ray and Charles married in 1941 and moved to Los Angeles. There she designed covers for the magazine Arts & Architecture and worked on the couple's experiments with moulded plywood.
Ray played a decisive role in the couple's shared office. She was often responsible for colour, form, materials and the overall visual effect of exhibitions and films. She designed textile patterns, and she and Charles created playful objects such as the Hang-It-All coat rack and the House of Cards card game. The couple's home in Pacific Palisades was filled with objects she had collected: stones, toys, textiles and folk art, arranged like a living collage.
For a long time Ray was described mainly as Charles's wife, and the press gave him the credit. After his death in 1978 she went on to complete the couple's projects and manage the archive. She died in 1988, ten years to the day after Charles. Today she is seen as a full partner and one of the most important designers of the 20th century.