684 Lounge Chair

This is one of many examples of the Eames Aluminum Group lounge chairs made in black Naugahyde, the textile most readily associated with the collection today. “Naugahyde” is the brand name for a synthetic textile developed in 1920 by chemist Byron A. Hunter of the United States Rubber Company from a combination of leather fibers and rubber. Its name, trademarked nearly two decades later in 1936, refers to the town of Naugatuck, Connecticut, in which it was first manufactured. The name also alludes to the hide of animals used to produce natural leather, which Naugahyde imitates in appearance and texture. Naugahyde exemplifies the increasing value placed on ease of cleaning—and ease of homemaking more generally that characterizes the work of Ray and Charles Eames. The Eameses had been specifying Naugahyde on furniture since 1952. In their 1954 movie about the Eames Compact Sofa, they presented a vivid demonstration of its value, with a scene in which a child drops her ice cream cone on the sofa, and because it is Naugahyde, no damage is done.