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Galleries // 2012 Spark:Product // Eames Aluminum Group Outdoor

Eames Aluminum Group Outdoor

Winner - Bronze

Competition: Spark:Product
Designer: Ms. Susan Lyons - Materials Consultant
Design Type: Outdoor Furniture
Website: http://www.hermanmiller.com/collection

Materials consultant Susan Lyons has led Herman Miller's development of a proprietary new fabric, Outdoor Weave, synthesizing the look and feel of the original saran which Alexander Girard and Charles and Ray Eames chose as an outdoor fabric for the first Eames Aluminum Group chairs. While completely innovative at the time, the original saran did not hold up to outdoor use, and the chair was brought inside. Going back into the archives, Susan studied the original fabric wanting to retain its rich textural quality while bringing it up to today’s functional and environmental standards. She needed to find a new textile that would be self-supporting with enough stretch to be comfortable, yet retain its shape over years of use. Since Herman Miller invented the modern suspension fabric with the introduction of Aeron’s Pellicle, it made sense to work with a similar construction. Lyons designed a construction that combined a precisely calibrated elastomeric warp with a heathered polypropylene weft, giving it the surface quality of an interior upholstery textile, with the porosity of an outdoor mesh. Technical and tactile, Outdoor Weave is PVC-free, a sustainable synthetic alternative to standard outdoor textiles and the first to achieve these qualities. Five colors—cool white, lead, java, jute, and graphite—complement the new white and graphite satin powder coated outdoor finishes. The Eames Aluminum Outdoor Group is also now offered in its early 4-star base, in lounge, ottoman, and guest/dining versions, moving seamlessly from outdoor to indoor, leisure to workplace, just as the Eameses first intended.