DAR - Eames Plastic Armchair Armchair - / (1950) - Chromed legs by Vitra White

Treat yourself to an ORIGINAL iconic piece by Vitra. An original will always hold its value. It will stay with you for your whole life and outlast you, to be passed on to the next generation. Swiss design house Vitra is the only company authorised to manufacture Charles & Ray Eames products for Europe: if you own an Eames product manufactured by Vitra, you can be sure it’s an original. Charles and Ray Eames are two of the most important designers of the 20th century. The first plastic chairs to be mass-produced, the Shell Chairs by Charles and Ray Eames are among the major creations in the history of furniture. “Making the best available to the many" is how Charles and Ray Eames described one of their main aims as furniture designers. Of all their creations, none came closer to this goal than the Plastic Chairs. The idea of creating a one-piece moulded seat shell, adapted to the human body, was the focus of this pair of designers for many years. After experimenting with plywood and aluminium sheeting in the 1940s without producing satisfactory results, their search for alternative materials led them to glass-fibre-reinforced polyester resin. This material, which was completely unheard-of in the furniture industry at the time, allowed moulded shells to be developed and refined up to mass production. This one-piece, organically shaped shell turned out to be a much-admired innovation at a time when chairs were, for the most part, composed of a seat and a back. Fibreglass offered the added benefit of a pleasant feel and a perfectly moulded shell for extraordinary comfort. After their initial presentation at the Low Cost Furniture Design competition organised by the Museum of Modern Art in 1948, the Plastic Armchair (A-shell) and Plastic Side Chair (S-shell) were introduced to the market in 1950, as the first mass-produced plastic chairs. With the launch of this revolutionary creation, Charles and Ray Eames introduced a new type of furniture that has since spread around the world: the multifunctional chair whose shell can be combined with a wide variety of different bases. As early as 1950, Charles and Ray Eames presented a whole series of different bases with a remarkable design. The DAR (Dining Height Armchair Rod Base) stands out for the complex construction of its steel wire "Eiffel Tower" base. This filigree structure stands out for its unrivalled combination of lightness of form and stable construction. Despite its compact dimensions, this chair offers pleasant comfort even for tall users. Its iconic shape is immediately identifiable. Today, Vitra manufactures the DAR armchair by Charles and Ray Eames with two different shells: the Eames Plastic Chairs have a polypropylene shell while Eames Fiberglass Chairs have a glass-fibre-reinforced polyester resin shell just like the first models. Like the original armchair, this fibreglass version has a lively texture: the slightly irregular surface material has clearly visible fibres that give it an almost natural look. Due to the high quality of Vitra originals, the manufacturer offers a 10-year guarantee (register your product on the dedicated website to benefit from the extended warranty).