Mid Century Dining Chair La Fonda by Eames for Vitra, Orange, Fiberglass, 1960s
View Similar Items
Mid Century Dining Chair La Fonda by Eames for Vitra, Orange, Fiberglass, 1960s
About the Item
- Creator:Charles and Ray Eames (Designer),Vitra (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 29.5 in (74.93 cm)Width: 25 in (63.5 cm)Depth: 22 in (55.88 cm)Seat Height: 18.5 in (46.99 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1961
- Condition:Reupholstered. Wear consistent with age and use. Reupholstery was done, with a special attention to the fabric’s original condition.
- Seller Location:Vienna, AT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5648224828762
Charles and Ray Eames
Charles Eames and Ray Eames were the embodiment of the inventiveness, energy and optimism at the heart of mid-century modern American design, and have been recognized as the most influential designers of the 20th century.
As furniture designers, filmmakers, artists, textile and graphic designers and even toy and puzzle makers, the Eameses were a visionary and effective force for the notion that design should be an agent of positive change. They are the happy, ever-curious, ever-adventurous faces of modernism.
Charles (1907–78) studied architecture and industrial design. Ray (née Beatrice Alexandra Kaiser, 1912–88) was an artist, who studied under the Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit (the legendary institution where Charles also met his frequent collaborator Eero Saarinen and the artist and designer Harry Bertoia) and married the next year.
His technical skills and her artistic flair were wonderfully complementary. They moved to Los Angeles in 1941, where Charles worked on set design for MGM. In the evenings at their apartment, they experimented with molded plywood using a handmade heat-and-pressurization device they called the “Kazam!” machine. The next year, they won a contract from the U.S. Navy for lightweight plywood leg splints for wounded servicemen — they are coveted collectibles today; more so those that Ray used to make sculptures.
The Navy contract allowed Charles to open a professional studio, and the attention-grabbing plywood furniture the firm produced prompted George Nelson, the director of design of the furniture-maker Herman Miller Inc., to enlist Charles and (by association, if not by contract) Ray in 1946. Some of the first Eames items to emerge from Herman Miller are now classics: the LCW, or Lounge Chair Wood, and the DCM, or Dining Chair Metal, supported by tubular steel.
The Eameses eagerly embraced new technology and materials, and one of their peculiar talents was to imbue their supremely modern design with references to folk traditions. Their Wire chair group of the 1950s, for example, was inspired by basket weaving techniques. The populist notion of “good design for all” drove their molded fiberglass chair series that same decade, and also produced the organic-form, ever-delightful La Chaise. In 1956 the Eames lounge chair and ottoman appeared — the supremely comfortable plywood-base-and-leather-upholstery creation that will likely live in homes as long as there are people with good taste and sense.
Charles Eames once said, “The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” For very good collectors and thoughtful interior designers, a piece of design by the Eameses, the closer produced to original conception the better, is almost de rigueur — for its beauty and comfort, and not least as a tribute to the creative legacy and enduring influence of Charles and Ray Eames.
The collection of original Eames furniture on 1stDibs includes chairs, tables, case pieces and other items.
Vitra
Design house Vitra has garnered international recognition for more than 70 years — the Swiss family-owned furniture company has outfitted public spaces as well as residential properties and offices worldwide. It has been a proponent of modernist design since the 1950s. While the brand is heralded for its collaborations with mid-century modern icons such as Verner Panton, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard and others, Vitra’s German campus is also home to buildings designed by legendary architects Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry. Among them is the Vitra Design Museum, an independent cultural institution that displays two centuries of design today.
Vitra was established in Weil Am Rhein, Germany, in 1950 by husband and wife team Willi and Erika Fehlbaum. On a trip to New York several years later, Willi Fehlbaum encountered the work of design polymaths Ray and Charles Eames in a furniture store and immediately knew that he had found his bliss.
In 1957, Vitra entered into a licensing agreement with Herman Miller, which saw the company producing designs by George Nelson, the Eameses and others. Later, Vitra partnered with Verner Panton and created the Panton chair, which was the first chair ever crafted from a single piece of molded plastic (it was also the first piece to be independently developed by Vitra). After 27 years of establishing the Vitra brand, the Fehlbaums passed control to their two sons, Rolf and Raymond Fehlbaum.
When a fire destroyed the factory in 1981, the brothers developed the Vitra Factory Campus, subsequently taking the opportunity to redirect the architectural landscape of the company. They created a masterplan with Nicholas Grimshaw, and together they erected four buildings in just a few short years.
In 1988, with the passing of Ray Eames and the disbandment of the Los Angeles Eames office, Rolf and Raymond acquired the furniture design portion of her estate, including the Eames prototypes and experimental models, housed today in the Vitra Design Museum.
Rolf and Roy opened the Vitra Design Museum in 1989. This began a period rich with design relationships, including collaborations with Antonio Citterio, Jasper Morrison, Maarten van Severen, Philippe Starck, Alberto Meda and others.
In 2012, leadership passed to Nora, the third generation of the Fehlbaums. Nora Fehlbaum has, like her grandparents, expanded the company and brought it into the 21st century with the acquisition of Finnish furniture manufacturer Artek. Nora has turned the company’s focus to sustainability yet still maintains its international and cultural relevance legacy.
Find a collection of Vitra lounge chairs, tables, side chairs, sofas and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- Mid-Century Modern Black Bast Chiavari Dining Chairs, Italy 1960sBy ChiavariLocated in Vienna, ATMid-Century Modern black bast chiavari dining chairs, Italy 1960s. This set of 8 wooden dining chairs was designed and produced by Italian fu...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsWicker, Wood
- Mid-Century Modern Black Bast Chiavari Dining Chairs, Italy 1960sBy ChiavariLocated in Vienna, ATMid-Century Modern black bast chiavari dining chairs, Italy 1960s. This set of 8 wooden dining chairs was designed and produced by Italian fu...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsWicker, Wood
- Mid-Century Modern Wooden Dining Chairs "Golem" by Vico Magistretti, Italy 1969By Vico MagistrettiLocated in Vienna, ATMid-Century Modern black Lacquered wooden dining chairs Golem by Vico Magistretti, Italy 1969. Stunning set of 4 dining chairs „Golem SD51“ designed by Vico Magistretti for Poggi in 1969. The unique frame of the chairs are made of black high lacquered wood and the seats have a black high quality leather upholstery. These chairs are very elegant in its graceful lines and at the same time they embody a linear simplicity. The element that serves as the backrest is lightly profiled to adjust to the seated position. It is one of the very few cases in which the reference to the past is not through the recovery of anonymous types and models, as Magistretti was used to doing. He revisited this formal typology with the collection of Koube chairs designed for the Japanese brand...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Wood, Walnut
$2,840 Sale Price / set20% Off - Mid Century Modern Dining Chairs with Blue Velvet Upholstery, Set of 6, 1950sLocated in Vienna, ATMid Century Modern dining chairs with blue velvet upholstery, Set of 6, 1950s This set of six Mid-Century Modern wooden dining chairs adds...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
- Mid Century Modern Dining Chairs with Green Velvet Upholstery, Set of 6, 1950sLocated in Vienna, ATMid Century Modern dining chairs with green velvet upholstery, set of 6, 1950s This set of six midcentury modern dining chairs made from teak adds a subtle elegance to every dining ...Category
Vintage 1950s European Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Velvet, Teak
- Mid-Century Modern Black Metal Armchair by Eero Aarnio for Mobile Italia, 1970sBy Mobel Italia, Eero AarnioLocated in Vienna, ATMid-Century Modern Black Metal Armchair by Eero Aarnio for Mobile Italia, 1970s. Due to its uniquely curved metal frame, this black armchair is immediately recognisable as a masterp...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- La Fonda Chairs by Eames for Vitra, Original Fabric, Fiberglass, 1960sBy Vitra, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in amstelveen, NLLa Fonda chairs by Eames for Vitra, Orange, Fiberglass, 1960s. This lovely set of two La Fonda armchairs is the absolute eye-catcher in every styl...Category
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsAbalone, Wool, Fiberglass
- Fibreglass La Fonda Chair by Charles & Ray Eames for Vitra, 1960sBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Bruxelles, BELa Fonda chair, designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Alexander Girard’s La Fonda del Sol restaurant in New York, 1960s. The chair has a gra...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Vitra “La Fonda” Eames Chair & Marble Table in Black HopsackBy VitraLocated in Barrowford, GBThis is one of the most handsome, refined chair/table suites you could ever hope to find. This is an rare opportunity to acquire what is, unequivocally, the best of the best, it b...Category
2010s Tables
MaterialsMarble
- Eames EA108 Black Netweave Dining Chair by VitraBy Charles Eames, Vitra, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Amsterdam, NLComfortable dining chairs in very good condition with normal light wear. Lightweight chrome-plated aluminum frame with swivel mechanism and black (very strong) netweave upholstery. S...Category
Vintage 1950s German Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsAluminum, Chrome
$1,109 / item - Original Eames Fiberglass Shell Chairs by Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Brooklyn, NYVintage 1960s molded fiberglass side shell chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. Gleaming shells are in original condition, each with a distinct thready texture...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsFiberglass
- 6 Eames for Herman Miller DSS Stackable Naugahyde Fiberglass Shell ChairsBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Chattanooga, TNSold as a group of 6. We have 20 individual chairs available. Contact us if you need a custom quantity. Eames stackable fiberglass shell cha...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal, Aluminum
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
A Guide to Herman Miller’s Most Iconic Furniture
The prolific manufacturer has partnered with many of the world’s top designers since opening its doors in 1923. Here are some of the company’s greatest hits, which helped transform the American home and office.