The Cast of Life
subtle and delicate role of self-experimentators. Their reflection had to do with the light, fragile and ephemeral aspects of daily life; with the connections and finite elements or entities of spatial production. It was a sensitive acknowledgment of the emotional qualities of the material world in order to enable the inhabitant to develop another kind of connection or coupling with his/her domestic environment. Genesis of the self-experimentation project On July 5, 1941, Charles and Ray Eames arrived in Los Angeles excited about the possibility of enjoying a better climate and obtaining work as industrial designers thanks to the industrial push taking place in the region because of the War.4 The main war industries had positioned themselves in California, which had lead to a change in density in the country, rapidly displaced toward the West. 4 — It is important to remember that Ray was from California and was not at all comfortable with the weather of the Midwest. Besides, upon arriving, Charles and Ray wanted to develop in the war industry the models of laminated wood that they had already developed before leaving for California, along with Eero Saarinen, at Cranbrook. The accuracy of the date is referenced in Eames Demetrios, An Eames Primer (New York: Universe Pub., 2001), 100 . 5 — Donald Albrecht, ‘Introduction’, in The work of Charles and Ray Eames: A legacy of invention , 114. 6 — Beatriz Colomina, ‘Cold War/ Hothouses’, in Beatriz Colomina et al. (eds.), Cold War Hothouses: Inventing Postwar Culture from Cockpit to Playboy (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004), 10–21.
Los Angeles solidified its position as the aviation capital of the United States. Major aircraft companies such as Douglas, Lockheed, and Vultee employed many of those who emigrated to Los Angeles region in search of high-paying defence work. In the eyes of designers like the Eames, these companies also projected a compelling vision of the future through the industrial architecture of their new aircraft factories and advanced materials and technologies of their flying machines. 5
Once the war was over California would retain this privileged position, leading technological development of the country, being also the region that better socially absorbed wide ranging innovations in daily life, from photographic cameras, computers, automated toys, innovative materials such as plastics, to small electronic devices and other ‘charming’ novelties.6 A few years before, in 1938, John Entenza, an active young journalist
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