Attribution (w/ Harrison K. Smith), 2026
Exhibition checklist information for Molded Plywood Leg Splint (1943) and Dining Chair Metal (1946, reproduction).
2026.
Molded Plywood Leg Splint
Charles and Ray Eames with Gregory Ain, Margaret Harris, and Griswald Raetze
Molded plywood
On loan from Takashi Yanai
In 1942, Gregory Ain was hired as Chief Engineer for the Eames Office. His primary task in this role was to develop a reliable method for molding plywood. The engineering team’s eventual success was the breakthrough that made the Eameses’ trademark plywood products possible. In 1943, early plywood furniture prototypes convinced the Evans Products Company to acquire the Eames team as the company’s new “Molded Plywood Division.” In the spring of 1946, the Museum of Modern Art presented an exhibition titled “New Furniture Designed by Charles Eames,” showcasing a variety of plywood works. The exhibition press release credited Charles Eames exclusively for the technology used to mass-produce molded plywood. Gregory Ain, alongside Molded Plywood Division coworkers Girswald Raetze, Harry Bertoia, and Herbert Matter, left the Eames team shortly thereafter.
A work already on display at 3551 Meier St. prior to this exhibition, Molded Plywood Leg Splint parallels the Mar Vista Tract development insofar as it represents a unique artefact of Ain’s work at the intersection of modernist design, government contracts, and the defense industry. One of a series of 150,000, this splint is immediately recognizable as the first realization of the Eameses’ iconic work with molded plywood. Ain’s intimate involvement in the design and development process remains, contrastingly, relatively unknown — a poignant example of his broader erasure from the canon of architectural modernism. Crediting Ain in the production of this splint contributes to the ongoing reconstruction of his legacy.
Dining Chair Metal
Charles and Ray Eames with Gregory Ain, Don Albinson, Milah Bernie, Harry Beroia, Frances Bishop, Norman Bruns, Georgia Cunningham, Victor Delgado, Milton Driggs, Ida Francesa, Saul Golden, Little Gus, Gus Holstrom, Cecil James, Herbert Matter, John Moon, Marion Overby, Griswald Raetze, Harry Soderbloom, and Ben Urmstron
Exhibition checklist information for Molded Plywood Leg Splint (1943) and Dining Chair Metal (1946, reproduction).
2026.
Molded Plywood Leg Splint
Charles and Ray Eames with Gregory Ain, Margaret Harris, and Griswald Raetze
Molded plywood
On loan from Takashi Yanai
In 1942, Gregory Ain was hired as Chief Engineer for the Eames Office. His primary task in this role was to develop a reliable method for molding plywood. The engineering team’s eventual success was the breakthrough that made the Eameses’ trademark plywood products possible. In 1943, early plywood furniture prototypes convinced the Evans Products Company to acquire the Eames team as the company’s new “Molded Plywood Division.” In the spring of 1946, the Museum of Modern Art presented an exhibition titled “New Furniture Designed by Charles Eames,” showcasing a variety of plywood works. The exhibition press release credited Charles Eames exclusively for the technology used to mass-produce molded plywood. Gregory Ain, alongside Molded Plywood Division coworkers Girswald Raetze, Harry Bertoia, and Herbert Matter, left the Eames team shortly thereafter.
A work already on display at 3551 Meier St. prior to this exhibition, Molded Plywood Leg Splint parallels the Mar Vista Tract development insofar as it represents a unique artefact of Ain’s work at the intersection of modernist design, government contracts, and the defense industry. One of a series of 150,000, this splint is immediately recognizable as the first realization of the Eameses’ iconic work with molded plywood. Ain’s intimate involvement in the design and development process remains, contrastingly, relatively unknown — a poignant example of his broader erasure from the canon of architectural modernism. Crediting Ain in the production of this splint contributes to the ongoing reconstruction of his legacy.
Dining Chair Metal
Charles and Ray Eames with Gregory Ain, Don Albinson, Milah Bernie, Harry Beroia, Frances Bishop, Norman Bruns, Georgia Cunningham, Victor Delgado, Milton Driggs, Ida Francesa, Saul Golden, Little Gus, Gus Holstrom, Cecil James, Herbert Matter, John Moon, Marion Overby, Griswald Raetze, Harry Soderbloom, and Ben Urmstron