Betty Gorecki's husband Richard worked for Herman Miller from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s—a defining era in the company's history, when the designs of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard changed the look of modern American design.
Richard Gorecki was a traveling salesman that worked for the interiors department, consulting offices on furnishing their spaces with the adaptable and optimistic furniture and textiles that would become iconic of the era. Betty, a hairstylist who owned a salon, fell in love with the modern designs of Herman Miller and outfitted their home with the colorful and inviting aesthetic (even making custom curtains and pillows out of Girard fabrics).
Art is only art if it is synonymous with living.
Alexander Girard
Along with classic Herman Miller designs, Betty also decorated her home with items purchased from Girard's Textile & Objects shop, including the delightful handmade dolls of Marilyn Neuhart and folk art from South America. This collection also features Herman Miller Summer Picnic posters by Stephen Frykholm, timeless Nelson and Eames furniture, and Girard works ranging from an important collection of over six hundred fabric samples to his good-humored Environmental Enrichment panels.
Though Betty and Richard divorced in the early 1970s, Betty continued to live with these designs, seamlessly integrating their ease, optimism and resilience into her home and life for over forty years—just as Eames, Nelson and Girard had hoped they would be.
What makes a design unique, original, inventive, imaginative, and compelling? What are those attributes that really make your design really stand out amongst the crowd? I think the dimensionality comes from the person designing it, if that makes any sense. The design has to have presence.
Stephen Frykholm
The vast influence of Charles and Ray Eames is immeasurable; Responding to the burgeoning attitudes and landscapes of mid-century America, they created an utterly unique and novel design world, born from their curiosity, industriousness, optimism and humanistic impulses.
In 1940, the Charles and Ray met at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where Charles was collaborating with Eero Saarinen on furniture designs and Ray was studying painting. The two married in 1941 and moved to Los Angeles soon after, establishing their highly influential design firm that, with the help of other talented designers they brought in, would re-shape modern design. Early explorations in plywood and mass-producing sturdy, livable and charming furniture brought them success and allowed them to extend their efforts into more diverse fields such as education, textiles, filmmaking, curating, architecture and industrial design.
The Eames Office operated for over four decades, exerting an enormous influence on modern and contemporary design through their limitless vision of the human spirit. Charles passed away in 1978 and Ray died ten years later to the day. Their contribution to the American ethos continues to inspire and influence contemporary design today.
Auction Results Charles and Ray Eames
