Plywood Group DCW

Overview

The DCW, or Dining Chair Wood, is the all-timber version of the Eames moulded plywood chair. Vitra puts it in the Plywood Group, dates it 1945/1946 and calls it the proof that the couple's early efforts to bend plywood into complex shapes succeeded.

Image source: Vitra — Plywood Group DCW · © Vitra and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research. · View official product page ↗ · Image use & copyright policy

Construction

Nothing but wood is used for the frame of the chair: a veneered, lacquered plywood shell forms the seat and the back, and the legs are plywood with the same veneer. Ash and walnut are the two woods offered. Shock mounts, rubber bonded to metal, connect the shell parts to the base.

Specifications

Size: 495 mm wide, 555 mm deep, 725 mm high, seat 405 mm above the floor. One lacquered finish is chosen for back, seat and base together: natural ash (64), walnut pigmented black (45) or black ash (68).

An all-wood dining chair

Among the chairs of the Plywood Group, Vitra singles out the DCW as the one made entirely of wood. Its page presents the chair as an iconic design whose look is as contemporary now as at its conception, and the date it gives is 1945/1946; the Vitra Design Museum's miniature page dates it 1945.

Dining height

The drawing gives the DCW a seat height of 405 mm and an overall height of 725 mm. In the Vitra Design Museum's description the frame of the plywood chairs exists in wood or metal and in two heights, as a dining chair or a lounge chair; for this wooden chair three finishes are offered: natural ash, walnut and black ash.