Eames, Ray (1912–1988)

American architect, abstract artist and industrial designer. Name variations: Ray Kaiser. Born Ray Kaiser, Dec 15, 1912, in Sacramento, California; died Aug 21, 1988, in Venice, CA; studied painting with Hans Hoffman; attended Cranbrook Academy; m. Charles Eames (industrial designer), 1941 (died 1978); children: stepdaughter Lucia Eames (designer).

One of the most important American designers of the 20th century, best known for her groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, industrial design and photographic arts, spent formative years in New York's modern-art movement (1930s); moved to Cranbrook Academy outside Detroit (1940), where she met Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen; began lifelong artistic and intellectual collaboration with husband and moved with him to California; worked on furniture designs which were picked up by Evans Products (1946) and continue to be manufactured in US and Europe; molded plywood chair which critic Esther McCoy called "chair of the century"; sought to address housing shortage through innovative uses of wartime materials and technologies; with husband, designed and built home in Pacific Palisades (1949), which is now a mecca for architects worldwide due to pioneering use of materials; expanded interest into photography and filmmaking (1950s), creating with husband over 85 short films ranging in subject matter from presidents to sea creatures to complex mathematical and scientific concepts; produced film The Information Machine (1957); explored new materials for furniture design, including fiberglass and plastic (1970s) and designed seating for offices, as well as Dulles and O'Hare airports (1960s); also designed numerous textile patterns and magazine covers.

See also Eames Demetrios, Eames Primer (Universe, 2001).