Charles remained in his hometown of St. Louis until late 1938. In Missouri, he studied architecture at Washington University (he never finished the program because of his too-progressive ideologies), practiced architecture in a partnership with Robert Walsh, and was married with a newborn daughter. With Walsh, Charles built two churches in Arkansas and four homes in the St. Louis area. Esteemed architect Eliel Saarinen took note of Charles’s work and invited him to complete a fellowship at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Quickly, this fellowship turned Charles into the school’s first director of the industrial design program. After a short time at Cranbrook, Charles became fast friends with Eero Saarinen and other budding architects and designers, plus, his marriage began to dissolve.
Charles remained in his hometown of St. Louis until late 1938. In Missouri, he studied architecture at Washington University (he never finished the program because of his too-progressive ideologies), practiced architecture in a partnership with Robert Walsh, and was married with a newborn daughter. With Walsh, Charles built two churches in Arkansas and four homes in the St. Louis area. Esteemed architect Eliel Saarinen took note of Charles’s work and invited him to complete a fellowship at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Quickly, this fellowship turned Charles into the school’s first director of the industrial design program. After a short time at Cranbrook, Charles became fast friends with Eero Saarinen and other budding architects and designers, plus, his marriage began to dissolve.
It was at Cranbrook Academy of Art where Charles and Ray’s lives and work began to intertwine. Their courtship lasted only a few months, sparked by Ray’s assistance in Charles and Eero Saarinen’s entry into MoMA’s “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” design competition. Immediately following their marriage in June of 1941, Charles and Ray optimistically moved to Los Angeles, bursting with exuberance for one another and their potential future in the arts and design. Before finding ample office space, the Eameses utilized the spare bedroom in their Neutra-designed apartment to experiment with molding plywood into complex furniture forms. When World War II unfolded, they pivoted this plywood manufacturing to, as Ray recalled, “aid in the war efforts without hurting anyone.” With funding from the U.S. Navy, the Eameses, alongside a small staff, manufactured leg splints, body litters, and aircraft parts. From these beginnings, they founded and operated the Eames Office, a design entity responsible for four decades of design in myriad subjects.
