Eames Elephant — Plastic or Wood

In the early 1940s, Charles and Ray Eames spent several years developing and refining a technique for molding plywood into three-dimensional shapes, creating a series of furniture items and sculptures in the process. Among these initial designs, the two-part elephant proved to be the most technically challenging due to its tight compound curves, and the piece never went into serial production. After a limited edition in 2007, Vitra has added a plywood version of the legendary Eames Elephant to its standard portfolio. Several years ago, the Eames Elephant was also launched in plastic, making it available to the target group for which it was originally intended: children. And a smaller version – with an identical design but reduced in scale – likewise comes in plastic in a choice of colors. Ray and Charles Eames were both trained in the arts, with Ray having studied painting under Hans Hoffman and Charles studying architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. Their joint collabora