ProduitsChaisesChaises de bureauFauteuilsTablesBureauxSystèmes de mobilier de bureauTables basses et tables d’appointCanapésMicro architectureAccessoires LumièresSéjourSalle à mangerHome OfficeChambre d'enfantsExtérieurConcentrationEspace de travailRéunionAteliersAlexander Girard Antonio CitterioCharles & Ray Eames Barber OsgerbyGeorge NelsonIsamu NoguchiJasper MorrisonJean ProuvéKonstantin GrcicRonan & Erwan BouroullecVerner PantonEntretien & réparationProduits d'entretienGarantie du fabricantNouveauBest-sellerOffice chair finderLounge chair finderGift finderNouveauEames Special CollectionInspirationsEames Shell ChairsJean Prouvé CollectionChaise Standard & Chaise Tout BoisDes meubles qui font partie de la famillel’art de l’intérieur vertLiving with EamesCollectionez les meubles & l’art vintage Vivre & travailler dans une oasis urbaineUne nouvelle vie pour une maison GropiusLeur foyer idéal au contact de la nature MagazineHistoiresEntretiensExpositionsDesignersLe Projet VitraThe Eames La ChaiseSaul SteinbergTane Garden HouseWhat would Charles and Ray say?The Maison Jean ProuvéDesign is a highly political professionPhilosophy of select and arrangeL'originalThe Chair WhispererHistory of Communal WorkspacesMy Room is my ThinkingVitra CampusExpositionsVisites guidées et ateliersRestaurationShoppingArchitectureÉvénementsActualitésPlanifier votre visiteVitra Campus appVitraHausVitra Design MuseumVitra SchaudepotOudolf GartenSur VitraJobs & CareersDurabilitéProcessus de designHistoire - Project VitraL’original est signé VitraProfessionalsClub OfficeCitizen OfficeDynamic SpacesAéroports HospitalityHealthcareTéléchargementsCouleurs et matériauxpConExemples de planificationCertificatsSoins et entretienNos clientsSièges de travailDancing OfficeClassics in the OfficeConsulting & Planning StudioLogin revendeurAbalonACXNos clientsJoyn 2
What kind of nothing?
A Vitra Anecdote
In the mid-1950s the Aluminum Company of America, ALCOA, organised an extensive Forecast Program to promote the use of aluminium in design and architecture. For this venture ALCOA focused on the designer as ‘the man to stimulate the consuming public with inventive projects for the home’, and invited a range of designers including Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Girard, Charles and Ray Eames and many others to participate. What Alcoa wanted from the designers was not a product to manufacture, but a concept to promote.
For the Forecast Program, Noguchi designed the sculptural Prismatic Table, and Girard created a room divider with variable sizes, colours and storage options.
The ‘Solar Do-Nothing Machine‘ was designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1957 as a kinetic aluminium sculpture – a toy powered by sunlight alone. A solar collector tracked the sun across the horizon, motors responded, wheels turned, pistons rose and receded, colours flashed and blended. The Eames described their invention as ‘a device that will do nothing’ – and spoke about natural resources and the means for teaching the younger generation. The Eames ‘Solar Do-Nothing Machine‘ is not supposed to do, as the Eames stated, it is supposed to be. Its whole function is in its being. Whoever asks what the function of a sunset is?
The ‘Solar Do-Nothing Machine‘ was designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1957 as a kinetic aluminium sculpture – a toy powered by sunlight alone. A solar collector tracked the sun across the horizon, motors responded, wheels turned, pistons rose and receded, colours flashed and blended. The Eames described their invention as ‘a device that will do nothing’ – and spoke about natural resources and the means for teaching the younger generation. The Eames ‘Solar Do-Nothing Machine‘ is not supposed to do, as the Eames stated, it is supposed to be. Its whole function is in its being. Whoever asks what the function of a sunset is?
About its creation Charles Eames said: ‘And this, I would say, would be a good test for any design. Does it make somebody aware of something that it is important for him to be aware of? And does it do it in a manner that is delightful (which is the opposite of pedantic)? In fact, this could be a good starting point for somebody wanting to make a design: to think first about what he wanted to make people aware of, and then to move toward the most effective and pleasing way of bringing this about.’
Eames Demetrios, grandson of the Eameses, later discovered unedited footage of the ‘Solar Do-Nothing Machine‘ and made a film.
The film is also part of “The World of Charles and Ray Eames” at Barbican Center, London. Read more about this exhibition in our interview with curator Catherine Ince.
The film is also part of “The World of Charles and Ray Eames” at Barbican Center, London. Read more about this exhibition in our interview with curator Catherine Ince.
Publication Date: 11.5.2015
Author: Stine Liv Buur
Images: The ‘Solar Do-Nothing Machine‘ designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1957. © Eames Office LLC