Image source: Vitra — Eames Storage Unit ESU, Bookcase
© Vitra and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research.
Eames Storage Unit ESU, Bookcase
Eames storage unit of 1949, four units high, with drawers and moulded plywood sliding doors.
1200 × 1480 × 430 mm
1949
Official product information
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Description
Overview
The ESU Bookcase is a freestanding storage unit credited to Charles and Ray Eames, with the year 1949 on Vitra's page. It is four units high and combines drawers and sliding doors with open shelves.
Construction
A black powder-coated metal frame with birch plywood shelves (maple face veneer), powder-coated aluminium panels and lacquered moulded plywood sliding doors; the legs allow individual levelling.
Specifications
1200 mm wide, 430 mm deep, 1480 mm high. Panels in 83 pale blue, 25 mauve grey, 85 fawn, 84 Eames red or 86 rusty orange.
Story
Sliding doors
The Eames Foundation describes the thin plywood sliding doors of the original Eames storage units as moulded with circular indentations, a door type Charles and Ray had first developed in 1946 for their original case goods. Vitra's page lists the sliding doors of the bookcase as moulded plywood, lacquered, next to its drawers.
One unit
The bookcase is a single structure four units high, 1200 mm wide, 430 mm deep and 1480 mm high; the drawing carries no composition of several units.
More by Charles and Ray Eames
Occasional Table LTR
Eames low occasional table of 1950 with a steel-wire rod base and wood, HPL, linoleum or marble top.
Soft Pad Chair EA 223
Eames stool for the EA 222 lounge chair, with a sewn-on cushion and an aluminium base, 1969.
Plywood Group DCW
Eames' Dining Chair Wood: made entirely of moulded plywood, 1945/1946.
Eames Chaise
The 1968 Eames Chaise, an 18-inch-wide leather chaise on a die-cast aluminum frame.
Collection
Eames Storage Unit ESU
Vitra's Eames Storage Unit ESU family by Charles and Ray Eames, 1949: a system of freestanding shelves and desks, today the ESU Shelf and the ESU Bookcase.
