Charles Eames secured an architecture scholarship at Washington University, but his devotion to the practices of Frank Lloyd Wright caused issues with his tutors and he left after just two years of study.

Ray enrolled in various courses to expand upon her previous education in abstract painting in New York City under the guidance of Hans Hofmann.

Eames and Saarinen considered it a failure, as the tooling for molding a chair from a single piece of wood had not yet been invented.

Charles and Ray began creating tooling and molding plywood into chairs in the second bedroom of the apartment, eventually finding more adequate work spaces in Venice.

The design office of Charles and Ray Eames functioned for more than four decades (1943–1988) in the former Bay Cities Garage[3] at 901 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Los Angeles, California.

[4] Through the years, its staff included many notable designers: Gregory Ain (who was Chief Engineer for the Eameses during World War II),[5] Don Albinson, Harry Bertoia, Annette Del Zoppo, Peter Jon Pearce, and Deborah Sussman.

The Eameses created their splints from wood veneers, which they bonded together with a resin glue and shaped into compound curves using a process involving heat and pressure.

[8] The US navy's funding for the splints allowed Charles and Ray to begin experimenting more heavily with furniture designs and mass production.

Herman Miller officially relocated the tooling and resources for the mass production of Eames designs to its headquarters in Zeeland, Michigan in 1958.

Herman Miller, along with their European counterpart Vitra, remain the only licensed manufacturers of Eames furniture and products.

Charles attended Washington University from 1936 to 1938 and was expelled from the architecture program due to his loyalty to the practices of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Three years after arriving in Los Angeles, Charles and Ray were asked to participate in the Case Study House Program, a housing program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine in the hopes of showcasing examples of economically-priced modern homes that utilized wartime and industrial materials.

John Entenza, the owner and editor of Arts & Architecture magazine, recognized the importance of Charles and Ray's thinking and design practices—alongside becoming a close friend of the couple.

Charles and Ray spent many days and nights on-site in the meadow picnicking, shooting arrows, and socializing with family, friends, and coworkers.

They made the decision to not build the Bridge House and instead reconfigured the materials to create two separate structures nestled into the property's hillside.

Although Charles did not concern himself with the future of their designs after his death, Ray actively planned the continuation of the Eames legacy during the last decade of her life.