who would say that pleasure is not useful ?

Charles Eames was once engaged in a filmed interview with a French critic. The exchange illuminated design issues so vividly that, Herman Miller reprinted the interview as a special flyer . . .

* Reprinted here again, Eames’ views are no less provocative today than they were more than twenty-five years ago . . . 

French critic • What is your definition of ‘‘design’’ Monsieur Eames ? Charles Eames • One could describe design as a plan for arranging elements to accomplish a particular purpose. 

Fc • Is design an expression of art ? Eames • I would rather say it’s an expression of purpose. It may (if it is good enough) later be judged as art.

Fc • Is design a craft for industrial purposes ?  Eames • No, but design may be a solution to some industrial problem.

Fc • What are the boundaries of design ? Eames • What are the boundaries of the problems ?

Fc • Is design a discipline that concerns itself with only one part of the environment ? Eames • No.

Fc • Is it a method of general expression ? Eames • No, it is a method of action.

Fc • Is design a creation of an individual ? Eames • No, because to be realistic one must always recognize the influence of those that have gone before.

Fc • Is design a creation of a group ? Eames • Very often.

Fc • Is there a design ethic ? Eames • There are always design constraints and these often imply an ethic.

Fc• Does design imply the idea of products that are necessarily useful ? Eames • Yes, even though the use might be very subtle.

Fc • Is it able to cooperate in the creation of works reserved solely for pleasure ?
Eames • Who would say that pleasure is not useful ?

Fc • Ought form to derive from the analysis of function ? Eames • The great risk here is that the analysis may be incomplete.

Fc • Can the computer substitute for the designer ? Eames • Probably, in some special cases, but usually the computer is an aid to the designer.

Fc • Does design imply industrial manufacture ? Eames • Not necessarily.

Fc • Is design used to modify an old object through new techniques ? Eames • This is one kind of design problem.

Fc • Is design used to fix up an existing model so that it is more attractive ? Eames • One doesn’t usually think of design this way.

Fc • Is design an element of industrial policy ? Eames • If design constraints imply an ethic, and if industrial policy includes ethical principles, then yes, design is an element of industrial policy.

Fc • Does the creation of design admit constraints ? Eames • Design depends largely on constraints.

Fc • What constraints ? Eames • The sum of all constraints. Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem–the ability of the designers to recognize as many of the constraints as possible; his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints: the constraints of price, of size, of strength, of balance, of surface, of time, and so forth. Each problem has its own peculiar list.

Fc • Does design obey laws ? Eames • Aren’t constraints enough ?

Fc • Are there tendencies and schools in design ? Eames • Yes, but these are more a measure of human limitations than of ideals.

Fc • Is design ephemeral ? Eames • Some needs are ephemeral. Most designs are ephemeral.

Fc • Ought design to tend towards the ephemeral or towards permanence ? Eames • Those needs and designs that have a more universal quality tend towards relative permanence.

Fc • How would you define yourself with respect to a decorator ? An interior architect ? A stylist ? Eames • I wouldn’t.

Fc • To whom does design address itself: to the greatest number ? To the specialists or the
enlightened amateur ? To a privileged class ? Eames • Design addresses itself to the need.

Fc • After having answered all those questions, do you feel you have been able to practice the profession of “design” under satisfactory, or even optimum, conditions ? Eames • Yes.

Fc • Have you been forced to accept compromises ? Eames • I don’t remember ever being forced to accept compromises, but I have willingly accepted constraints.

Fc • What do you feel is the primary condition for the practice of design and for its propagation ? Eames • A recognition of need.

Fc • What is the future of design ? | the response to this question is a pointed silence followed by the film’s end . . . |

* An excerpt from pages 61 to 64 about Charles & Ray Eames | “Business as unusual, the people and principles at Herman Miller.” By Hugh De Pree, ©1986, ISBN -10. 0879110058 · ISBN 13. 978-0879110055