The Aluminium Group Dining Chair

The Aluminium Chair is one of the greatest furniture designs of the twentieth century. Charles and Ray Eames originally designed it in 1958 for the private residence of industrialist and art collector J Irwin Miller in Columbus, Indiana (USA), as architect and designer Alexander Girard had mentioned the lack of high-quality weatherproof furniture for use on the terrace. Motivated by this impulse, Charles and Ray Eames began to design a chair suited for both outdoor and indoor environments. This soon led to the development of an entire family of chairs for universal applications – the Aluminium Group. For the construction of this chair, the designer couple abandoned the principle of the seat shell, instead stretching a panel of fabric or leather between two aluminium side members to create a taut but elastic seat. The chair adapts to the body of the sitter and is exceedingly comfortable, even without elaborate upholstery. In addition, by turning the profiles inward, the fastened edges become invisible and the tension is evenly distributed across the entire surface. This perfect interplay of forces exemplifies the inventive spirit of Charles and Ray Eames.

The Aluminium Group includes several different models for use in homes, offices and public areas. Vitra has produced the Aluminium Group chairs over a period of decades in the same superior quality. This experience allows them to offer a 30-year guarantee on all of the chair models in the Aluminium Group.

Vitra has now launched the new models EA 101, 103 and 104, three versions of this classic that belonged to the original product family and were first marketed as the Aluminium Dining Chairs. They expand the choice of products in the Aluminium Group with a selection of smaller, lighter chairs which are the perfect accompaniment to a dining table. In addition, Vitra has updated Alexander Girard's classic Hopsak upholstery fabric with 28 vibrant new colour combinations, providing a new lease of life to this archetype of modernism.

View the new Aluminium Group Dining Chairs in Store now.

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