Functional Art
Three looks: The center section of the stool comes in three distinctively sculpted profiles.

Either side up: The top surface and the smaller bottom surface are both concave.

Compact size: The stool is 15 inches high; top diameter is 13 inches; bottom diameter is 11 inches.

Design Story
Ray Eames drew on her training as a sculptor to design a new kind of occasional piece for the lobby of the Time-Life Building in New York City. Eames walnut stools became her favorite seats and were liberally scattered about the Charles and Ray Eames home in Pacific Palisades.

A museum curator once ordered two of these stools for his son and daughter. "Graduation gifts?" he was asked. "No," he said, "the kids are only five and three. But I want them to have the experience of growing up with something truly good that they can keep all their lives."