The husband-and-wife design team of Charles and Ray Eames took it upon themselves to create durable and affordable home furnishings. They started with molded plywood designs that today are highly-prized among collectors, but soon began working with fiberglass. Eschewing padded wood frames, the couple sought to design chairs and chase lounges molded to comfortably support the human shape.
"What works is better than what looks good," Ray Eames once famously said, "What looks good can change, but what works, works."
Advances in science also started to show up in home-furnishing design. Stackable plastic and aluminum chairs were introduced and an increasing fascination with space exploration led to fiberglass chaise lounges and appliances.
Wall-to-wall carpeting became the rage after the advent of the technology to make it and those who couldn't afford it often went for Edward Fields' area rugs patterned after kimono designs and Piet Mondrian-like montages of lines and geometric shapes. Where the previous generation fashioned their staid furniture from wood and leather, the Fabulous 50s favored primary colors, Formica finishes and bold, cylindrical or spherical shapes.
"In Taiwan, there was very little choice in furniture for the average family," Yang said. "So these old pieces are special not only for being imported, but for being so different than anything else available ? then or now."
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