Uniqlo honours the “groundbreaking contributions” of Charles and Ray Eames in new collection

Clothing retailer Uniqlo has launched a new collection to celebrate Charles and Ray Eames, arguably the two most famous designers of the 20th Century. The collection includes t-shirts featuring the duo’s iconic chairs plus shawls and slippers bearing their colourful triangle pattern (as seen on 1951 children’s game The Toy) plus lesser-known designs that resemble space stations and fruit.

The SPRZ NY EAMES Collection (a shortening of ‘Surprise New York’) was developed in collaboration with the Eames Office, the organisation established to continue the couple’s legacy following Charles’ death in 1978 and Ray’s a decade later. According to the office, the collaboration is especially fitting given Uniqlo’s belief “that good design and quality objects should be available to all” – a tenet that underpinned the Eames’ work, which spanned furniture and industrial design, graphics, film-making and architecture. The new products have launched in Uniqlo’s Japanese stores and will roll out worldwide from the beginning of October.

The collaboration coincides with a major retrospective celebrating the couple’s contribution to the design canon at the Frank Gehry-designed Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, which opens today (30 September). Vitra now manufacturers many of the pair’s most famous furniture designs including its iconic lounge chair, which celebrated its 60th birthday last year.