I bought myself a toy! "That's a toy?" as Gene Wilder said to Zero Mostel in Mel Brooks' "The Producers". Well, to me, an Eames' DCW chair has all the appeal of a shiny gadget for small hands.
It's an esteem shared by Time magazine who designated this "The Best Design of the 20th Century", which, given that there are ample other choices, is high praise. It was with this design that the relationship between the Eames and Herman Miller started in 1946, so it does hold a seminal place in the output of 20th century designs and the Eames' ouvre.
To begin. It was love at first sight, even before I knew anything about the chair, but it was a case of "uptown girl/backstreet guy" or "West end girls/East end boys", depending on which side of the pond you're standing on. You know..... it was kinda pricey! Now, I know you can get copies that are much cheaper, but that has never sat well on my heart and head, although my wallet would quite happily shuffle it's skinny rear into a comfortable position on the moulded ply of a cheaper copy. Personally, I would rather buy a well designed more expensive original, but I know opinions differ, so each to their own.
Then I saw it. My project! On Ebay. "Eames vintage DCW chair parts, Herman Miller". I had to follow my heart, win or lose, and pursue it with passion. Now we're together, the honeymoon is over, and it's time to settle down to a lasting relationship and start ironing out some of the problems.
Firstly, all of the parts are there, including the screws. The shock mounts are all in place, although they are bordering on the brittle side. There is no identification, although you can tell where this would have been, and it does bear all of the hallmarks of a vintage piece. So far, so good, but, and it's a big but (no pun intended), the plywood of the back panel is splitting (plywood dilapidation is one of the signs of a vintage chair and is hard to fake) and to add insult to injury, the back panel has been bolted on to the rear shock mount.............through the front of the panel. It's a bit like having a beautiful painting and hanging it on the wall by hammering a nail through the middle of the canvas; expedient, but not exactly classy!
I remember one of my architecture tutors saying that buildings fall into insensitive hands. I've been an architect for long enough to know that this is unfortunately true. I hate it when bad things happen to good people, and I hate it when bad people happen to good things (ok, their not necessarily bad, but they could do better). So this is an opportunity to right a wrong.
I'll probably spend as much money restoring it, as I would spend on a new DCW, but that's ok, it's a noble cause. Hopefully with a bit of TLC it will look more like this by the time I've finished:
but that's a blog for another day.
