Ray Eames 101

The Eames house living room as it is best known, shot in 1994. The light from the window illuminates the tumbleweed the couple picked up on their honeymoon drive from Chicago to Los Angeles; due to its fragility it was the only item not to have been moved to the LACMA exhibition. Photo courtesy Tim Street-Porter.

The living room in 1994 from the outside looking in, the angle from which most visitors view the space. Ray bordered the house with potted plants, which remain outside today. Photo courtesy Tim Street-Porter.

Charles and Ray Eames were true collaborators.

Here are a quartet of our favorite Eames films—three made by Charles and Ray and one more of them introducing their legendary lounge chair on NBC. You know the designers, now get a taste for the filmmakers.

Charles and Ray Eames designed this elephant in 1945. The complex process required for molding the plywood pieces was prohibitive, however, and the elephant never made it past the prototype stage. Vitra revived the beast in polypropylene, making it durable enough to handle the wilds of the backyard, playroom, or even southern California.

Charles created this rebus for his daughter, Lucia, when she was a child. “Some people want a key for it; some don’t,” says Sussman. Ray’s table was curated by artist Tina Beebe, who worked closely with Ray in the Eames Office and decorated the surface with the flowers and objects Ray favored.

Photo of the home of Interior Architect Curtis Popp (curtispopp.com). The home is located in the Land Park area of Sacramento.

To a standing-room-only crowd at Dwell on Design 2013, Charles and Ray's grandson, Eames Demetrios, presented Ray Eames 101, in which he shared never-before-seen images of the artist and her work.

Ray Eames 101 Eames Demetrios—cofounder of the Eames Foundation, TED speaker, and inventor of the alternate universe Kcymaerxthaere—will present a detailed talk about the art and designs of Ray Eames, his grandmother. Catch the panel Sunday, June 23, at 2:30 p.m.