There are brands—and then there are legacy brands. The latter exist in rarified air—fueled by pure life force, sprung fully formed from personalities and achievements. The relationship between the Eames estate and two companies—Herman Miller and Neenah Paper—illustrates how, with proper care, evolving a legacy brand can be mutually satisfying, comprehensively rewarding and nothing short of a calling.

Capturing the spirit and vision of artists/entrepreneurs Charles and Ray Eames is akin to grasping white-hot sparks. During their lives, which ended on Aug. 21, 1978, and Aug. 21, 1988, respectively, the Eameses impacted the global design community and mainstream culture with significant, award-winning contributions in architecture, film, furniture design and exhibitions.

The Eames Lounge Chair remains an icon of mid-century design, and was followed by three equally well-regarded generations of chairs. Eames tandem airport seating, fashioned out of their signature cast aluminum, is found all over the world. The Eames body of 154 movies—notably Powers of Ten—gave them another forum to express their ideas. Museums display their collections, and whole rooms from their former studio in Venice, Calif., are on display in three institutions.

The Eameses’ work includes a collection of over 750,000 still photographs, slides and drawings at the Library of Congress in the Prints and Photographs Division, along with 160,000 items in the Manuscript Division. Further, the tentacles of their influence reached toys, clothing, magazine design, common household items, musical instruments, office accessories, fabric design and more. Charles, trained as an architect, and Ray, primarily a painter, lived to experience their work in myriad arenas.

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED
Yet the husband-and-wife team’s singular approach to living their design is what really stands out. Each area of modern life they touched—no matter how far afield—was infused with the same philosophy, rooted in an unwavering belief: Everything is connected, from the tiniest line of a pencil marking to the biggest splash of ocean to a falling star. Charles would say, “Eventually everything connects—people, ideas, objects, etc. … the quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.”

The “quality of the connections” is, of course, at the forefront of furthering a legacy. At Neenah Paper, which has produced Eames products since 2005, and Herman Miller, which has had an Eames business link since 1946, solid relationships were knit together before a single product hit the marketplace. It’s a matter of doing the homework—designer learning about manufacturer, manufacturer immersing itself in a designer’s DNA.

In the case of Herman Miller, key individuals were lucky enough to spend countless hours with Charles and Ray. At Neenah, although the relationship began after the designers’ deaths, one has the distinct feeling that Charles and Ray would have felt the work was authentic, inspired and true to their playful vision.

John Berry, former Herman Miller director of Corporate Communications, worked closely with Ray Eames in the 1980s. “Trust was and always has been the hallmark of the Eames/Herman Miller relationship,” he says. “The Eameses trusted Herman Miller early on to make what they designed. They trusted Herman Miller engineers and model makers to collaborate with them on how an idea would go into production. The Eameses didn’t just design something and say, ‘Now make this.’ They understood the manufacturing process and worked within it.”

A SINGULAR COUPLE
It’s hard to avoid the romantic and even sappy when discussing the Eameses. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Cranbrook, Mich., where Charles was on the faculty—about to become head of the Industrial Design Department—and Ray Kaiser was a new student. Within a year, the discreet pair was quite possibly the coolest design team around … and in many ways, they still are. Today, they would be highly sought-after (if reluctant) A-listers to secure as party guests. Their level of taste, combined with their impeccable sense of social and environmental responsibility, would be in high demand in think tanks and academia.

However, Charles and Ray would most likely not have attended the parties and would have declined self-important corporate roles. As grandson Eames Demetrios, a filmmaker and author, writes in An Eames Primer, “Charles and Ray had an expression they used around the office that encapsulated this: ‘Take your pleasure seriously.’ It was also an ideal that they truly lived, one that manifested itself in a million ways in their lives and work … [staffer] Parke Meek commented about the connection between work and play for Charles, ‘You know, it was the fact that he just kept hammering away … he very seldom did anything for entertainment. Other than play, he made the work, sort of, a play thing.’”

THE EAMES HOUSE & OFFICE
Part of the Case Study House Program of 1945–1966, the Eames House is situated on the perimeter of a wildly natural meadow perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Designed by Charles and Ray, the residence is a striking example of their architectural vision.

Said to be Japanese in influence, the house is a repeating pattern of a box, consisting of Mondrian-style colorful cubes. Divided in two—one pavilion is living space, the other side a studio —the structure was originally to be built across the meadow, cutting the grounds in half in a bridge layout, affording its occupants an ocean view. But Charles and Ray decided the natural beauty of the meadow, lined with fragrant eucalyptus trees, should not be disturbed. They set the home at the very edge of the property, against a descending wall of rock, so it gently overlooks the meadow grasses.

Unchanged since Ray’s death, the Eames House serves as a window to the artists’ sensibilities. An unwrapped present lies in a hallway—Ray would regularly find the paper and ribbon dressings of presents too striking to open. A small kitchen table is set as a tableau of blue pottery: small, delicate sculptures and three small vases with fresh flowers. In the living room, a cozy seating nook is brimming with objets d’art from all over the world.

On the studio side, books, drawings, framed pictures, toys and countless artifacts of their work lives are spread among spacious work tables. The Eameses were archaeologists of aesthetics, digging up shapes, colors, objects and found items everywhere and anywhere. In effect, the Eames House and Studio are like a design world expo exhibit.

Steve Sikora, cofounder of Design Guys in Minneapolis, worked with Neenah Paper to create EAMES paper lines and promotional materials. “The Eameses allowed [designer] Kelly Munsen and myself to wander through the Eames House at will and discover what was there,” Sikora remembers. “Unlike any preservation effort I have seen, the Eames House is managed as a time capsule. We found personal notes, paper scraps and handmade artifacts and collections that later informed the papers and graphic design of [Neenah’s] entire program. Allowing us freedom in the house was a risk at some level; however, it provided the intimacy required for us to make the program truly authentic.”

Charles’ only child, daughter Lucia, was away at college when the Eameses lived at the house. She recalls many wonderful visits with her father and stepmother: “Ray would always say, ‘Bring joy and vigor to whatever you do.’ We would have great family meals here in the kitchen or down at the beach, and afterward, Charles would say, ‘It’s back to the mines.’ And he would walk across the house to the studio to continue working into the night.” Today, the Eames House is available for exterior viewing by appointment. The Eames Office in Santa Monica, Calif.—a gallery, gathering place, workspace and library—is open to the public.

GUEST/HOST RELATIONSHIP
In addition to the idea of connection, a guiding theme throughout the Eameses’ lives was the concept of guest and host. In designing a chair, for example, it was just as important to them to consider who will be sitting in it as it was to decide what kind of material to use. Their notion was that if both sides are considered, the product or environment will automatically improve. A perfect illustration of the guest/host relationship can be found in the siting of the Eames House: Charles and Ray were being good guests by not building on the meadow. This decision also made them good hosts for their surroundings.

Like a good partner in a guest/host relationship, Neenah required Demetrios to learn about the paper business. “They said I had to take a crash course in papermaking,” he remembers, “so off I went to Wisconsin in the middle of winter to visit one of Neenah’s paper mills. I asked to see some of their technical paper. It made perfect sense because Charles and Ray would take industrial things and make them into something else.”

Demetrios says, “Charles and Ray were always asking, ‘What would happen if mass production was actually good for the product?’ So as you work on mass production, you make it better and better. Charles and Ray were interested in getting things out to lots of people. We want each new [corporate] partnership to reach new people.”

Demetrios runs the Eames Office and is also the family spokesperson for the Eames legacy. Four siblings—Carla, Byron, Lucia and Llisa—oversee other aspects of the family business, from archival supervision to maintaining and curating the house and grounds. The family is approached often to partner with companies. “We get lots of serious queries for some kind of product somewhere; most of them go away when we say we want creative control,” Demetrios explains. “We know what we want, which is to feel really good about whatever has our name on it.”

NEENAH PAPER: EVERY DAY, ALL ABOUT EAMES
In 2005 Neenah Paper released its EAMES Paper Collection—the result of an exhaustive, exhilarating immersion into the world of Charles and Ray Eames. Tom Wright, Neenah’s director of Design and Advertising, says, “We had great brands behind us at Neenah, but nothing had been done that recently. Here, we had the opportunity to do something great.”

“A former boss, John Berry, arranged a meeting between Eames Demetrios and me at the AIGA conference in 2002.” Wright, who had worked extensively in environmental and graphic design and holds a visual communications degree, already had an affinity for the Eames aesthetic going into the project. He actually owns an Eames chair, a surprise from his wife years earlier.

Before the meeting, Wright attended a presentation Demetrios was giving on the family legacy. “Eames came in and began this multimedia show about Charles and Ray,” Wright remembers, “and off we went on this wonderful little journey. Hours later, I was still sitting in this little room with others in the audience, and not one person had moved. I realized right then and there that this was going to work.”

Once an agreement was forged, Wright connected Design Guys with Demetrios, who served as their guide. “We like to find out who’s going to be involved in the creative process, and we want them to know us, too,” says Demetrios. “We bring them to the Eames House, the Eames Office and occasionally to the Library of Congress. The ideal is for all of us to be on the same page.”

The EAMES Collection became an homage to Charles and Ray, re. ecting their disciplines and passions. Centered around the themes of furniture, architecture and painting, the papers offer colors, textures and finishes that are beautiful and refined. But a funny thing happened: Early sales suggested the papers might be too refined. Wright explains, “Designers held the collection in such high esteem that they were reserving it for special projects.”

The Eameses would have had a laugh, since their entire thrust was to reach as many people as possible. Demetrios adds, “When we say that the EAMES Paper Collection is ‘inspired’ by my grandparents’ philosophy and work, this means more than a casual nod to Eamesian things such as furniture, painting and architecture. It means authenticity, utility, beauty and accessibility. Charles and Ray designed for everyone, not merely the high-end user.”

Neenah, Demetrios and Design Guys regrouped, and the result was the EAMES Everyday Collection. Building on the original collection, they added colors, weights and finishes that round out the line. The process and results have been successful at every stage. Wright says, “Eames [Demetrios] keeps the legacy authentic. He lives the heritage. There was good dialogue throughout the process. We did have arguments, but he always came back with a good reason why something could or could not live in this space.”

THE HERMAN MILLER DECADES
When Charles and Ray began working with Herman Miller, at first their deal was only in marketing and distribution. After a couple of years Herman Miller began to manufacture Eames chairs as well. Herman Miller and Eames are an example of a legacy partnership so intertwined it is hard to separate the two. Each famous design—from the 1956 lounge chair and ottoman to the Eames Aluminum Group—has solidified a relationship that is still going strong. Herman Miller is the only American manufacturer to build Eames furniture.

The partners worked together in architecture, too. Charles would design Herman Miller showrooms—one, on Beverly Boulevard in L.A., has been gutted and redone several times, but its facade remains the same. In 1954 Charles designed the family home for Max DePree, son of the founder of Herman Miller. Michael Arents, Herman Miller Retail Sales manager, speaks about the famed synergy between the partners. “There’s a shared reverence for the genius of the Eameses, and, on Herman Miller’s side, [founder] D.J. DePree and [designer] George Nelson, who recognized their abilities and fostered a relationship that supported and empowered their work.”

In the end, it seems that advocacy for authenticity is another key to a successful legacy partnership. In the case of Charles and Ray Eames, the fact that their legacy includes a brilliant, thriving family of individuals hell-bent on preserving their philosophies and spirit is fortunate for all of us.

As a child, Lucia Eames asked her father, “What is immortality? How long does a spirit last?” Charles responded, “As long as there’s a thought about that spirit—as long as someone’s thinking about that spirit—that’s how long we last.”

TOP: INTERIOR, EAMES HOUSE AND OFFICE. COMMON LIVING AREA/LIVING ROOM FEATURING MODULAR WALLS. CHARLES’ AND RAY’S ART AND ARTIFACT COLLECTIONS CAN BE SEEN THROUGHOUT THE SPACE.