Getting the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least': with these words, Charles and Ray Eames described one of their main goals as furniture designers. None of their other designs come as close to achieving this ideal as the Plastic Chairs.

For years, the designer couple explored the fundamental idea of a one-piece seat shell moulded to fit the contours of the human body.

After experiments with plywood and sheet aluminium in the 1940s produce unsatisfactory results, their search for alternative materials led them to glass-fibre reinforced polyester resin. The DSW chairs have iconic status and are one of the most recognisable designs when it comes to chairs. They were launched in 1950 as the very first mass-produced plastic chairs in the history of furniture.

Today, they are produced by Vitra and a number of other vendors (and in a range of prices depending on quality and finish) in a variety of colours and finishes and as such can be used as side chairs, dining chairs, in the office, both residential and in commercial spaces.

Their use is only limited by our imagination.

Jenny Kakoudakis likes to blog about interiors. She launched award-winning Seasons in Colour in 2014 and the luxury interior design blog All The Pretty Homes in 2024. When she is not chasing criminals out of the financial system (her day job), she gets creative by redecorating her own home.