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Eames Institute / Museum

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The second part of the Eames Institute Collector's Circle was a trip to Novato to see the future home of the museum. John Savage Bolles was the  architect of record on the project. He also designed Candlestick Park, an IBM campus in San Jose, and Embarcadero Plaza. It was built in 1964 as the McGraw-Hill Publishing Western distribution center. They left in 1991 and Birkenstock moved in the same year. In 2007 the German sandal maker moved out of the building, only to return in 2012, although they only used the offices. Birkenstock left for good in 2020 and it has remained empty. Although rumors were circulating for several years about it, in 2025 that the Eames Institute announced they purchased the property.  John Cary, President and CEO of the Eames Institute, led this part of the day. He shared the institute's vision for the property. First and foremost, it will be a design museum, with a focus on Eames. However, it's going to much more than that. The warehouse building...
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Weekend / Stuff

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 Anne Goldman, Wayne Chapman, Ikebana and Tom McMillin I bought these together. Alexander Girard, Hans-Agne Jakobsson and Harold Elberg. Experimental airplane model and tik-tek clock. You would think that with being around so much Eames, I would have been able to pick a piece up over the weekend.
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Eames Institute / Collector's Circle

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On May 30, 2026 a group of Eames collectors convened at the Eames Institute in Richmond, California. Lovingly called the Eames Geek meeting by some. Needless to say, there was a lot of looking under chairs. The collection has 40,000 objects and counting. Only a fraction of it is on display. In fact, only a couple thousand have been cataloged up to this point. Some pieces have yet to be moved from remote storage facilities. Daniel Ostroff , The Dr. Pratapaditya Pal Chief Scholar, took us on a tour of the collection. This is not your average DCM connection. Time-Life Chair in a bronze finish. The glides are also bronze. For the shell nuts. Custom glitter vinyl. The Eames office had to approve all the fiberglass colors before they went into production.  Here is the sample from July 25, 1952. Paper prototype for a side shell. One of the few places prototypes are truly prototypes.  I mean, PROTO-TYPES. Prototype for the gold-leaf covered dowel base table at The Eames House. 670 w...
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