{"id":223358,"date":"2025-11-07T10:51:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T23:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indesignlive.com\/?p=223358"},"modified":"2025-11-10T09:42:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T22:42:06","slug":"eames-demetrios-living-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indesignlive.com\/people\/eames-demetrios-living-edge","title":{"rendered":"Eames Demetrios on continuity and innovation as he visits Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of wisdom that went into that object,\u201d says Eames Demetrios<\/a>, referring to the famous Shell Chair<\/a>. It\u2019s a landmark design that has been continually breaking new ground for 75 years, and it\u2019s a microcosm illustrating so much about what drives Demetrios and indeed the wider Eames empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demetrios has worked closely with Living Edge<\/a> for many years, and he\u2019s been back in the Asia-Pacific region as they celebrate their own 25-year milestone. Events included \u2018Defining the Icon,\u2019 intimate talks in Sydney<\/a>, Melbourne<\/a>, Brisbane and Perth<\/a> focused on the Eames family\u2019s extraordinary contribution to modern design. His busy itinerary also included stops in the Philippines and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI have had a number of experiences [in Australia], almost always through Living Edge. It’s always a learning trip and I have a long relationship with them \u2013 they’re great ambassadors for our work,\u201d says Demetrios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s difficult to know where to start with Demetrios\u2019 resume. Perhaps most notably, he\u2019s the inheritor of one of the 20th<\/sup> century\u2019s most renowned design groupings. Grandson of Charles and Ray Eames, he\u2019s now the Director of Eames Office. However, Demetrios is no mere businessman riding on the coattails of historic family success; he\u2019s a bona fide creative himself. While his own writing and film-making are separate to Eames Office, he also steers the practice with a tireless sense of creativity. Instead of sitting back with complacency, the ethos of Eames is to continually innovate on the basis of its stellar design foundations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cArt and design are related in certain ways, but they’re different,\u201d explains Demetrios. \u201cAnd one of the differences is that when the artist when the artist dies, there’s really no more new art. There can be discovered art, there can be certain kinds of limited editions, there certainly can be prints as ongoing \u2013 but there’s definitely a feeling of a window being closed. I’ve never heard of a designer who wanted their designs to stop being made when they die. I don’t think it’s really part of the idea of design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/em><\/strong>National AIA Award Winners 2025<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Showroom image by Peter Clarke<\/em> Photography.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Demetrios, then, the very idea of good design implies a never-ending refinement and improvement. The Shell Chair again provides the perfect demonstration, having been anything but static over its three-quarters of a century in production. In 2022, for example, its materiality was updated to 100 per cent post-industrial recycled plastic, with new colours to boot. Previous iterations introduced fibreglass and single-piece moulded wood, resulting in there being more than two million unique configurations available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, is the continued success of Eames Office simply down to an ability to keep things open to change? \u201cI would love to say that that\u2019s true, but it’s also the underlying excellence of the designs,\u201d answers Demetrios, pointing to an ever-present \u2013 and healthy \u2013 tension between past and future. \u201cI think that one of the things that we’ve been very good at is helping people also learn about the ideas behind the designs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it’s not about copying them,\u201d he adds with clarity. This is design based on a philosophy of perpetual reinterpretation and iteration, rather than crude reinvention or imitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cEven in [Charles and Ray\u2019s] lifetime, they were constantly improving the use of plastic \u2013 we really feel that what we’ve been doing is a continuity<\/em> of what they did,\u201d concludes Demetrios. \u201cIt’s not like a frozen time in their lifetime. This is how the Eames design process works and we\u2019re really keeping that going, especially as it has to do with addressing particularly environmental issues around the chairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living Edge<\/strong>
livingedge.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eames Office<\/strong>
eamesoffice.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He\u2019s the Director of Eames Office and an all-round creative polymath \u2013 and Eames Demetrios has just been in our region with Living Edge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":334,"featured_media":223364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":1763332859,"_expiration-date-type":"draft","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[11490,11372,86,1183,325,44,57],"tags":[37026,1164,11514,780,640,1167,9536,1162,1283,40298,29914,21249,109,2091,463,533,1173,434,5219,40283,1163,1198],"class_list":["post-223358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-happenings","category-home-slides","category-ideas","category-past-events","category-people","category-products","tag-america","tag-architecture","tag-asia","tag-australia-2","tag-brisbane","tag-chair","tag-charles-and-ray-eames","tag-design","tag-eames","tag-eames-chair","tag-eames-demetrios","tag-eames-office","tag-furniture-2","tag-history","tag-living-edge","tag-materials","tag-melbourne","tag-office","tag-plastic","tag-shell-chair","tag-sydney","tag-usa","events","happenings","home-slides","ideas","past-events","people","products"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEames Demetrios - 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