“the uncommon beauty of common things”
Thursday I attended the packed first stop in the Eames film festival, hosted by Design Within Reach. It was fun to sit on the fabulous furniture and the hard pebbles of the chattahoochie floor, which reminded me of my childhood in South Florida.
The films from Charles and Ray Eames' collection of over 100 shorts were introduced by Eames Demetrios, their grandson and protector of the Eames legacy.
Most of us first first saw "Powers of 10" in school, but it's always worth watching again and remembering both how huge and infinitessimally small we are in the universe.
The subjects in the films are carefully composed and except for the spinning tops and toy trains, often still, remnants of a slower paced time when directors still trusted audiences to respond. The camera is patient and observant, rarely moving, never panning or zooming.
The films celebrate organic forms and "the uncommon beauty of common things"--water on asphalt, tiny toys, the Pacific ocean. As Eames commented introducing one of them, sometimes an image can be an idea.
They rely perhaps a bit heavily on Elmer Bernstein's exquisite scores. I wasn't sure whether I'd actually seen "Toccata for Toy Trains" or just heard my mother playing the music.
Films like "Tops" and "Blacktop" were simple and influential, reminding me of the educational films we once watched in school. Before "The Monkees" and MTV and "Land of the Lost," these represented a different kind of essay film, visceral, direct, non-commercial (except for the Herman Miller product placement).
In "Design Q&A" Charles expounds upon his cross-disciplinary philosophy, his delight in constraints and discovering the boundaries of a problem.
Q. Is design an art?
A. Design is an expression of purpose...a method of action.
Coming soon to a DWR showrom near you; a DVD may be available too.
Tags: design, Eames, film
Film "is the fixing of reality, the essence of time, a way of preserving time which allow to roll and unroll it forever. No other form of art can do that. Therefore, cinema is a mosaic made of time." - Andrei Tarkovsky
The films from Charles and Ray Eames' collection of over 100 shorts were introduced by Eames Demetrios, their grandson and protector of the Eames legacy.Most of us first first saw "Powers of 10" in school, but it's always worth watching again and remembering both how huge and infinitessimally small we are in the universe.
The subjects in the films are carefully composed and except for the spinning tops and toy trains, often still, remnants of a slower paced time when directors still trusted audiences to respond. The camera is patient and observant, rarely moving, never panning or zooming.The films celebrate organic forms and "the uncommon beauty of common things"--water on asphalt, tiny toys, the Pacific ocean. As Eames commented introducing one of them, sometimes an image can be an idea.
They rely perhaps a bit heavily on Elmer Bernstein's exquisite scores. I wasn't sure whether I'd actually seen "Toccata for Toy Trains" or just heard my mother playing the music.Films like "Tops" and "Blacktop" were simple and influential, reminding me of the educational films we once watched in school. Before "The Monkees" and MTV and "Land of the Lost," these represented a different kind of essay film, visceral, direct, non-commercial (except for the Herman Miller product placement).
In "Design Q&A" Charles expounds upon his cross-disciplinary philosophy, his delight in constraints and discovering the boundaries of a problem.
Q. Is design an art?
A. Design is an expression of purpose...a method of action.
Coming soon to a DWR showrom near you; a DVD may be available too.
Tags: design, Eames, film
Film "is the fixing of reality, the essence of time, a way of preserving time which allow to roll and unroll it forever. No other form of art can do that. Therefore, cinema is a mosaic made of time." - Andrei Tarkovsky
Labels: ergonomics, film festival
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11:46 AM
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