Early Mid-Century Low Back Chair by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller, 1960s

Details

Description

An iconic and extremely rare first-generation eames side chair in lovely vintage condition. This fantastic chair is a treasure of … Read more An iconic and extremely rare first-generation eames side chair in lovely vintage condition. This fantastic chair is a treasure of design history, produced in london by esteemed british maker hille in collaboration with herman miller in the late 1950s/early 1960s, which will add a genuine mid century modernist ‘eames’ aesthetic to any interior.

designed in 1957, this no.680 chair was the first chair eames ever designed as part of their aluminium group of chairs and as a ‘first-generation’ model, it’s the design that originally went into production, before parts and materials were later tweaked. It’s such an early chair in fact, that they hadn’t yet adopted the eames ‘ea’ naming process, which came about from 1966, when the 680 model became the ea101.

the first of the original four aluminium group chairs produced by eames from 1957-1965, (the others being the 680s, 686 and 686s) the 680 was designed with the following qualifications: “side task chair, no arms, fixed – pedestal base”. Herman miller has always produced eames chairs and hille produced eames chairs for herman miller in europe from the late 1950s for just over a decade, before vitra got the whole european contract for eames production. This chair has the original “herman miller made by hille of london” sticker beneath the seat, and being a first-generation design, was likely made in the early 1960s but could even be a late 1950s production.

sleek, durable, versatile and attractive, this iconic chair features an aluminium frame and a specially produced grey ribbed eames ‘naugahyde’ (durable faux leather) seat. It has the lovely eames under-seat ‘u’ support over the smart black central column and sturdy 4-star base. Set on the original white rubber feet, the design of this first-generation base really sets it apart from later generation models, as it's much more angular and unapologetically brutalist – a true child of the post-war design movement.

all in all this is a fantastic rare chair. Highly versatile as a dining, office, side or accent chair, it’s also a wonderful piece of museum-worthy design history, which won’t fail to add streamlined styling and a genuine mid century aesthetic to any setting.

condition
this is in good vintage condition. Structurally sound and built to last, it has minor to-be-expected signs of age, including minor scratches to the black finish on the central column and some slight splitting to the right side of the seat. The original “herman miller made by hille of london” sticker can still be read on the ‘u’-shaped seat support. Overall it’s an iconic and extremely rare first-generation eames original chair, and if well looked after it should remain so for another 60+ years – please see the photos.

dimensions
height – 84cm, width – 50cm, depth – 54cm, seat height – 44cm, seat width – 48cm, seat depth – 39cm, weight – 5.5kg.
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