05 October 2011

Eames Demetrios Curates For REACH

Eames Demetrios celebrates the work of his namesakes Charles and Ray Eames at Herman Miller's recent REACH event in Hong Kong. Claire Saeki has the story.

Eames Demetrios' parents blessed him by naming him after his tremendously famous grandparents, Charles and Ray Eames. Even people who have never heard of the couple would have seen, and usually desired, their work.

The latest exhibition, Essential Eames, opened as part of Herman Miller's REACH event at the Hong Kong Design Institute on 16 September. It followed the outline of Demetrios' book, the Eames Primer.

"The idea is to show Eames in 3D," Demetrios says. For Demetrios' exhibition gave viewers an opportunity to see the work of Charles and Ray in a larger, more practical way than print can offer, such as seeing the nicks and bumps in the prototype furniture.

The Eames designed for function. Through images hanging at the exhibition, viewers could imagine the hours of work the Eames spent on physically creating iterations of their design in their studio.

Demetrios sought to awaken the concept of designer as "host". He points out the quote from Charles Eames that as host a designer must accommodate the needs of their guest and provide for them.

What motivates Demetrios to carry on with this work is seeing the pleasure that it brings to people. "Bringing a big smile to people's faces - that is incredibly satisfying", he says.

Charles and Ray's furniture will always be how their legacy will be remembered, says Demetrios, however, if he has anything to do with it, their design philosophy will also carry on.