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Vitra

Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108

by Charles & Ray Eames, 1958 — from 2.260,00 €
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Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108

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2.474,00 € *
1 x in stock, delivery time 2-3 working days (country of delivery Germany)
3 % advance payment discount*: 2.399,78 € (Save 74,22 €)

The Vitra Aluminium Chair EA 107/EA 108 was designed in 1958 by Ray & Charles Eames, and with its elegant cast aluminium side panels is perfectly suitable as representative conference chairs but also for the private sector. Available in a range of coloured leather, Hopsack cover or a net-mesh version, the two chairs are optically identical, the Vitra EA 108 is however a swivel chair, in contrast to the static EA 107.

Details

Product type Office chair
Dimensions Dimensions in mm
Colours Hopsak
Nero
Darkgrey
Nero/moor brown
Marron/moor brown
Cognac/ivory
Poppy red/ivory
Red/poppy red
Grass green/forest
Ivory/forest
Mint/ivory
Ice blue/ivory
Dark blue/ivory

Leather
Nero, Plano nero
Asphalt, Plano dark grey
Chocolate, Plano brown
Marron, Plano brown
Red, Plano poppy red
Sand, Plano mauve grey
Snow, Plano white

Netweave

Base
Schwarz
verchromt
poliert

Material Backrest and seat: Hopsak (100% polyamide), leather in various qualities or mesh (72% PVC, 28% polyester)
Side profiles, brackets, armrests and underframe: Die-cast aluminium, polished, chrome plated or powder-coated
Variants In the leather version of the back cover is color-matched in the fabric Plano.
Optionally with swivel function
Available with glides for carpets or glides for hard floors
Manufacturing
Care Dust and lint can be easily vacuumed. To treat stains use a damp cloth and a mild, non-abrasive detergent.
Professional cleaning should be done in the mounted state and with the use of upholstery foam or using a mobile wash-extraction device.

Please maintain and clean the leather according to the supplied information brochure.
Certificates GS symbol for tested safety
Sustainability The Vitra Eames Aluminium Chair is:
100% recyclable
contains up to 80% recycled material

Vitra conform to
ISO 9001: 2008 (Quality management systems)
ISO 14001: 2004 (Environmental management systems)
Warranty 24 months

Register product and secure extended manufacturer's warranty of 30 years
Product family All Eames Aluminium Chairs
Product datasheet Please click on picture for detailed information (ca. 0,2 MB).
Product presentation
Video

Popular versions

Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Hopsak, Nero
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Leather (Standard), Nero
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Leather (Standard), Snow
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Hopsak, Red / poppy red
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 107 - non-swivelling, Chrome-plated, Leather Premium F, Red
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 107 - non-swivelling, Chrome-plated, Leather Premium F, Nero
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 107 - non-swivelling, Chrome-plated, Hopsak, Grass green / forest
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Polished, Leather Premium F, Asphalt
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Leather Premium F, Asphalt
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Leather Premium F, Chocolate
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Hopsak, Dark grey
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Netweave Aluminium Group, Dark grey
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Chrome-plated, Netweave Aluminium Group, Black
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Polished, Hopsak, Dark grey
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Polished, Hopsak, Nero
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Polished, Leather (Standard), Nero
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Polished, Netweave Aluminium Group, Dark grey
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 108 - swivelling, Polished, Netweave Aluminium Group, Black
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 107 - non-swivelling, Polished, Leather (Standard), Snow
Aluminium Group EA 107 / EA 108, EA 107 - non-swivelling, Chrome-plated, Leather (Standard), Marron

FAQ

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Should the answers to your questions not be found here, our service team can be contacted Mon-Fri, 9 am - 5 pm via +49 341 2222 88 22.

Can the EA 107 covers be changed?

With the Vitra Aluminium Chair and Soft Pad groups only the complete seat unit can be replaced; a re-covering is not possible. Such a replacement should only be undertaken by a Vitra qualified service technician.

How durable is the Vitra Eames EA 107 Aluminium Chair?

The Vitra Eames Aluminium Chairs are tested to 110 kg. If the user is heavier, the chair can still be used but the wear increases. Not only the user's weight plays a major role in the durability of the chair, but also the users habits. If, for example, you regularly "drop" into the chair or used the armrests to help you get out of the chair, localised stress peaks can occur which can be greater than the burden of a "static" very heavy user.

Is the Eames EA 107 Aluminium Chair also available with castors?

No. The use of castors on a 4-star base is not permitted by law and if fitted the chair loses its safety certificate and guarantee.

Does the Eames EA 107 Aluminium Chair come with a manufacturer's warranty?

Vitra offers a warranty of 30 years on all parts of the Aluminium Chair and Soft Pad models not normally liable to mechanical wear.

Design Story

The Design

The EA 107 / EA 108 chairs are the result of a contract Charles and Ray Eames' received from their long-time friend the architect Eero Saarinen in the mid-1950s. He was looking for a quality chair for the exterior of the private home of Herman Miller, a house which he had designed in collaboration with Alexander Girard. Following a prolonged development phase Charles and Ray Eames presented the first prototypes of their Aluminium Chairs, which were designed as a whole series based on the same principle: seat and back form two cast aluminium side panels, between which are stretched the leather or fabric. The "cover" is thus no external wrapping, but a fundamental part of the design. The shape of the side panels is based in turn on the human spine, so that the Eames EA 108 optimally adapts to the body shape of the person sitting. The Vitra EA 108 Aluminium Chair has a medium-high backrest and armrests and is. in contrast to the externally identical Vitra EA 107, rotatable. The EA 108 and EA 107 Aluminium Chair are particularly suitable as an elegant and prestigious conference chairs, but they also fit effortlessly into living rooms.

Production

The story of Vitra as a designer furniture manufacturer begins with an Eames Plastic Chair in the 1950s, and the licenses for the Eames chairs EA 108 and EA 107 were similarly acquired early in the the Swiss furniture manufacturer's history. In keeping with the design philosophy of Ray and Charles Eames, the quality Vitra aluminium chairs are distinguished by a timeless aesthetic and proud durability. a proud durability which allows Vitra to offer a thirty-year guarantee on all chairs in the Vitra Aluminium Group. The side sections, flexible metal elements, armrests and feet of the aluminium chairs are made from die-cast aluminium, and are available in a polished and a chrome plated version. While the Eames' originally made their aluminium chair available in the weather-resistant synthetic leather "Koroseal" or "Naugahyde", today a wider selection of fabrics is available for the Vitra EA 108 including genuine leather and Hopsak.

Label on the back of an original Vitra Eames Aluminium Chair

Historical Context

The continued success of Charles and Ray Eames is due in large part to the sensitivity with which the Eames responded in their work to the development of American during the postwar era. During this period people's needs were redefined by. for example, the emergence of pop culture and rapid technological progress. Life, so the new spirit of the age, should be more flexible and consumer goods be available for large population groups. Charles and Ray Eames developed functional, objective forms and new production methods, with which one could respond to these needs. They decided to make their most popular designs in the innovative, new, materials of plastic and aluminium; materials which were suitable for mass production and entirely new form languages. The Aluminium Group Eames EA includes in addition to the 108 and EA 107, for example, the 117 swivel chairs on castors and EA 119.

Selection of Vitra furniture in front of the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein

Vitra EA 108

Designer

Charles and Ray Eames are among the most important protagonists of the post-war American design. And two of the world's most influential designers. The pair met for the first time in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Arts.
There Charles Eames and his friend Eero Saarinen were preparing their entry for the MoMA New York's "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition, and Ray Kaiser was assigned to assist. A year after their first meeting Ray and Charles married and moved to Los Angeles where they established a design studio. Ray's role in this collaboration has been underestimated for years; the media interest being much more Charles Eames. But it is today undisputed that Ray Eames made a significant contribution with her artistic knowledge and was every bit as important to the development of the Eames' designs as Charles. Until the late 1970s Charles and Ray Eames developed innumerate furniture, film, architecture, graphic, textile and toy projects. After her husband's death on August 21st 1978 Ray Eames Eames closed the studio. She herself died ten years later on August 21st 1988.

Ray and Charles Eames

Manufacturer

As the sole licensee of the Eames' chairs in Europe Vitra exclusively produces all Eames chairs, including the Eames aluminium chair EA 108. The relationship between Vitra and the Eames began in 1953 when Willi and Erika Fehlbaum the owners of a, then, shop-fitting business from Birsfelden, Switzerland discovered an Eames chair in a New York shop window. Their spontaneous enthusiasm soon led to negotiations with the American producers of Eames furniture, Herman Miller. After three years of trans-atlantic negotiations Vitra were awarded the exclusive license for Charles and Ray Eames' furniture designs. The relationship between Vitra and Charles and Ray Eames eventually grew so close that the Eames archive passed into the possession of Vitra upon the pair's deaths, and not Herman Miller. In addition to Charles and Ray Eames the Vitra portfolio has been shaped over the years by designers such as Verner Panton, with whom the famous Panton Chair was jointly developed, George Nelson and Jean Prouvé. More recently the company story has been guided by the likes of Hella Jongerius, Maarten van Severen or Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

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