A Beautiful Mind

Every designer promotes a certain type of individuality onto the rest of the creative world. Every well-rounded designer, through experience will eventually develop a special connection with certain designers in such a way that inspires them in their own. The passion that derives from the connection with ones work is one of the most powerful means of motivation one can experience.

When reading “A Beautiful Mind” I felt this deep connection with two specific designers; Charles and Ray Eames.  My immediate connection came from the words straight off the page, “they sought to improve toe world” which is exactly what I aspire to do as I progress my career in industrial design.

One thing that I am extremely interested in is helping those with physical disabilities, emphasizing on children in particular. I want to design specific pieces in which helps both functionality as well as versatility.

 In having such an extreme passion for accomplishing this goal, when hearing about the goals of both Charles and Ray Eames, it is easy to understand why I felt such a strong connection to these inspirational brothers.

In the early 1940’s, Charles and Ray Eames were subject to find the deeply rooted problems that were resulting from the metal leg splints in the military. Eames was understandably hesitant at first, to make such an influential product, “Eames had never had to make such a socially relevant object before” and have the ending result be such a forceful revolutionary product.   “From that day forward the awareness of the social necessity of design was never to leave the Eames’s.”

In 1941, The Leg Splint project was born. This project was born by exploring the necessary reexamination of functionality and combining it with surrealism. Since the metal leg splints were not catering to the needs and limited functionality of the injured, the Eames’s brothers were creative enough to “reconcile tradition with experimentation and innovation, usefulness with enjoyment, apparent superficiality with timelessness”.

One of the things that I find most inspiring about the work done by Charles and Ray Eames, is the amazing and rare quality they had to look in depth at a bad situation and make something positive come from it. Charles and Ray’s main objective, or goal was to improve the world around them.

“During the depression, American designers had to adjust to the new economy and instead of designing for an individual they had to design for the masses so they could be put in catalogues ect. Designers now had to design for the industry. It has been said that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. During the war

After both Charles and Ray Eames were enlisted for a cultural war programme, Charles was presented by a golden opportunity. Charles had always been fascinated with plywood. “Eames saw the possibility to use his fascination for plywood and his limited experience of mass production gained with companies to make a really ‘socially engaged’ product- the plywood splint” From that moment on Eames was constantly aware of the social necessity that design held.

Learning about the Eames brothers does not necessarily change my views on how I am going to approach this semester, but it does solidify what my plans for my future are. Reading about the Eames brothers gave me the self confidence and reassurance that is necessary for designers to be reinforced with in order to exceed expectations, impact the world and ultimately become the true meaning of the word ‘great’.

I believe that everything I create, must have not only be considered aesthetically pleasing, but should also have an essential value. My senior year of high school, I wrote an in-depth research analysis paper about the relation to children’s toys and education and how my belief was that all toys should aid a child in the crucial stages of educational development.

            When reading about the Eames’s brothers, one of the major aspects that seemed to really grab my attention was the fact that they shared the same views on toys as well, not even thinking twice that it should be any other way. They called it “Art in its truest form” which I could not agree with more.