The First Modern Storage Unit: The Eames Storage Unit(ESU)

Written by Mark Jennings Tuesday, 31 May 2011 03:10

Few designers influenced the mid-century modern design as Charles and Ray Eames did: they designed almost everything that could be designed. However, within the wide range of products they realized for Herman Miller, the ESU(Eames Storage Unit) is probably one of the most famous and popular. Designed in the 1949, the ESU was a revolutionary product for those times. It was the first modular furniture available in different combinations and materials.

Few designers influenced the mid-century modern design as Charles and Ray Eames did: they designed almost everything that could be designed. However, within the wide range of products they realized for Herman Miller, the ESU(Eames Storage Unit) is probably one of the most famous and popular. Designed in the 1949, the ESU was a revolutionary product for those times. It was the first modular furniture available in different combinations and materials.

The ESU's structure is made of original vertical and horizontal parts like the steel vertical bars forming the L-Shape -in different lenghts- the horizontal shelves in lacquered plywood and, again, vertical elements forming backs and sliding doors in different materials like plywood, perforated metal and Masonite.

All the elements were available in different finishes and colours to meet the the customers' needs. Sliding doors, open-back wire, X-frame braces and drawer systems were the mass-produced and interchangeable parts that the user could combine obtaining an original and unique furniture.

Charles and Ray Eames designed the ESU in the 1949 and produced by Herman Miller between the 1950 and 1955. From the 1998 is again in production. The ESU, despite its innovative characteristics, didn't have the hoped commercial success. It was probably too modern for that time's customers still too used in to the handmade style furniture.

The importance of the ESU was to become an example and a trend for the storage units production and design from that moment on. It best represented the Eameses' philosophy in terms of solving interior decor problems in an innovative and functional way and remembers other classic Eameses' projects like the Wire Chair and the Wire-base Tables.