Charles and Ray Eames

an original leg splint alongside a sculpture by Ray Eames

nurturing healthy tensions

The journey from leg splints to mainstream furniture was not a direct path.  Ray Eames began by making sculptures out of spare leg splints, cutting into them with a jigsaw.  She was exploring the visual languages that this new material could support, which was a natural mode of inquiry for an art school graduate - apparently playful, but with serious intent.  Within the Eameses' work, two cultures existed side by side, in a healthy tension: the first directly solving problems and respecting constraints, and the second more open-mindedly, even playfully challenging these constraints and exploring further freedoms beyond them.  The plywood furniture arose from both sides, from the splints and the sculptures.

Within design for disability, where teams still tend to come exclusively from clinical and engineering backgrounds, the dominant culture is one of solving problems.  A richer balance between problem solving and more playful exploration could open up new valuable directions. 

Pullin, Graham.  “Design Meets Disability.” Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2011, Introduction.