Charles and Ray were a team. They were husband and wife. Despite the New York Times' and Vanity Fair's best efforts recently, they're not brothers. (Laughter) And they were a lot of fun. You know, Ray was the one who wore the ampersands in the family. (Laughter)
查爾斯和蕾是一夥的。他們是一對夫婦。 儘管《紐約時報》和《名利場》最近盡了最大的努力, 他們還經常被誤認為兄弟。 他們相當幽默。 你知道,蕾是那個在家庭照中畫上符號「&」的人。 (笑)
We are going to focus on Charles today, because it is Charles' 100th birthday. But when I speak of him, I'm really speaking of both of them as a team. Here's Charles when he was three. So he would be 100 this June. We have a lot of cool celebrations that we're going to do. The thing about their work is that most people come to the door of furniture -- I suspect you probably recognize this chair and some of the others I'm going to show you. But we're going to first enter through the door of the Big Top. The whole thing about this, though, is that, you know, why am I showing it? Is it because Charles and Ray made this film? This is actually a training film for a clown college that they had. They also practiced a clown act when the future of furniture was not nearly as auspicious as it turned out to be. There is a picture of Charles. So let's watch the next clip.
今天我們會集中在查爾斯身上。因為今年是查爾斯一百歲的冥壽。 但當我講述他時,其實我是以他們兩個人作為一個整體。 這是查爾斯三歲的時候。在今年六月他快要一百歲了。 我們將會有很多很酷的紀念活動。 與他們相關的工作 大部份人都會想起傢俱 -- 我估計你們大概認出這張椅子 及一些我將為大家展示的物品。 但我們將從「Big Top」的門口進發。 關於它,說到底,你們會問,為什麼我要展示這個? 是因為這是查爾斯和蕾所製作的影片嗎? 這其實是一個為小丑學校而製作的培訓影片。 當傢俱的將來沒有比現在般興盛, 他們也曾練習小丑的動作。 這是查爾斯的照片。我們看看下一段影片。
The film that we're about to see is a film they made for the Moscow World's Fair.
我們接著看的影片是為莫斯科世界博覽會而製作。
Video: This is the land. It has many contrasts. It is rough and it is flat. In places it is cold. In some it is hot. Too much rain falls on some areas, and not enough on others. But people live on this land. And, as in Russia, they are drawn together into towns and cities. Here is something of the way they live.
(影片) 這是一片地。 它有很多的對比。 有崎嶇的,也有平坦的。 有地方是寒冷的。 有些是炎熱的。 有些地方下很多雨水。 有些地方就不夠。 但人們生活在這片地。 如同在俄羅斯, 他們聚集在小市鎮和城市中。 這是一些他們的生活方式。
Eames Demetrios: Now, this is a film that was hardly ever seen in the United States. It was on seven screens and it was 200 feet across. And it was at the height of the Cold War. The Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen Debate happened about 50 feet from where this was shown. And yet, how did it start? You know, commonality, the first line in Charles' narration was, "The same stars that shine down on Russia shine down on the United States. From the sky, our cities look much the same." It was that human connection that Charles and Ray always found in everything. And you can imagine, and the thing about it is, that they believed that the human mind could handle this number of images because the important thing was to get the gestalt of what the images were about.
伊默斯·德米特里:現在,這一段影片差不多從未在美國看過。 它是七個畫面組合成,有200呎闊。 那時正值冷戰高峰期。 尼克森和赫魯雪夫的『廚房辯論』 在這段影片約50呎以外的地方展開。 但它是如何開始呢? 你知道,大同, 查爾斯在影片中的第一句的旁白 「照耀著蘇聯的星星同樣地 照耀著美國。從天空中, 我們的城市看起來是相同的。」 查爾斯和蕾總在事物中尋找人性的相通性。 你可以想像,他們倆當時, 相信人類的思想能夠應付多幅影像, 因為最重要的是在看這些圖像的時候, 他們可以找尋某一刻的頓悟。
So that was just a little snip. But the thing about Charles and Ray is that they were always modeling stuff. They were always trying things out. I think one of the things I am passionate about, my grandparents work, I'm passionate about my work, but on top of all that I'm passionate about a holistic vision of design, where design is a life skill, not a professional skill. And you know, those of us with kids often want our kids to take music. I'm no exception. But it's not about them becoming Bono or Tracy Chapman. It's about getting that music thing going through their heads and their thinking.
這只是一小節。 再說查爾斯和蕾, 他們經常製作模型。 他們經常嘗試新事物。 我想其中一樣我熱愛的事就是:我祖父母的作品。 我熱愛我的工作。 但在我最為熱愛的東西 是設計時的整體視覺, 把設計當成生活技能,而不是專業技術。 你知道 我們那些有孩子的人常常希望孩子學點音樂。 我也不例外。 但並不是要孩子成為博諾(U2樂隊主唱) 或 崔西查普曼。 而是讓孩子的頭腦和思考中有音樂的概念。
Design is the same way. Design has to become that same way. And this is a model that they did of that seven-screen presentation. And Charles just checking it out there. So now we're going to go through that door of furniture. This is an unusual installation of airport seating. So what we're going to see is some of the icons of Eames furniture.
設計也是一樣。設計也應如此。 這就是他們為那次七個屏幕的展示所製作的模型。 而查爾斯正在調試著。 現在我們來談談傢俱。 這是一個不尋常的機場座位裝置。 現在我們會看看一些伊默斯傢俱中的經典作品。
And the thing about their furniture is that they said the role of the designer was essentially that of a good host, anticipating the needs of the guest. So those are cool images. But these are ones I think are really cool. These are all the prototypes. These are the mistakes, although I don't think mistakes is the right word in design. It's just the things you try out to kind of make it work better. And you know some of them would probably be terrible chairs. Some of them are kind of cool looking. It's like "Hey, why didn't they try that?" It was that hands-on iterative process which is so much like vernacular design and folk design in traditional cultures.
提起傢俱,他們說設計師的角色 最重要是成為一個很好的東道主, 去預計客戶的需要。 那些是很酷的圖像。但我認為這些更酷。 這是全都是原型。這些是錯誤。 雖然我不認為錯誤是設計中一個合適的字。 這只是你嘗試, 為的是越做越好。 你知道有一些可能是很糟糕的椅子。 有一些有很酷的樣子。好像是:「嗨,為何他們不試試那些?」 這是一個反覆嘗試親自動手的過程 就好像本土的設計 和在傳統文化的原始設計。
And I think that's one of the commonalities between modernism and traditional design. I think it may be a real common ground as we kind of figure out what on earth to do in the next 20 or 30 years. The other thing that's kind of cool is that you look at this and in the media when people say design, they actually mean style. And I'm really here to talk about design. But you know the object is just a pivot. It's a pivot between a process and a system.
而我想這是現代設計和傳統設計的共通點之一。 我想在未來二十至三十年內, 在我們想出如何自處的事情上,它們有著共同基礎。 第二樣很酷的東西就是 當你看著這些,而在媒體上當人們談及設計, 他們其實指的是風格。 而我在這裡確實是講述"設計"。 但你知道這物件只是關鍵。 是過程與系統之間的關鍵。
And this is a little film I made about the making of the Eames lounge chair. The design process for Charles and Ray never ended in manufacturing. It continued. They were always trying to make thing better and better. Because it's like as Bill Clinton was saying about Rwandan health clinics. It's not enough to create one. You've got to create a system that will work better and better. So I've always liked this prototype picture. Because it just kind of, you know, doesn't get any more basic than that. You try things out.
這是我所製作的短片, 內容是關於 伊默斯躺椅的製作。 查爾斯與蕾的設計過程 不止於生產。 它一直延續著。他們永遠嘗試讓物件越來越好。 因為這正如比爾·克林頓在有關盧旺達裡的健康診所的演說一樣。 去創造一所(健康診所)是不夠的。 你得創造一個會變得越來越好的系統。 因此我喜歡這個原型的照片。 因為它有一種你永遠找不到比這個更基本的感覺。 你嘗試新創造。
This is a relatively famous chair. Its early version had an "X" base. That's what the collectors like. Charles and Ray liked this one because it was better. It worked better: "H" base, much more practical. This is something called a splint. And I was very touched by Dean Kamen's work for the military, or for the soldiers, because Charles and Ray designed a molded plywood splint. This is it. And they'd been working on furniture before. But doing these splints they learned a lot about the manufacturing process, which was incredibly important to them.
這是相對較有名的椅子。 它最初的版本有著一個交叉的底部。這是收藏家所喜愛的。 查爾斯與蕾喜歡這個是因為這個比較好。 它操作更好。「H」的底部,更加實用。 這個東西名叫藤條。 我被迪安·基曼 為軍隊或士兵所做的工作而感動。 因為查爾斯和蕾設計了一個膠合板藤條模型。就是這個。 他們從前也製作過傢俱。 但他們從製造這些藤條的過程中學會很多有關製造的過程, 這些對他們無比重要。
I'm trying to show you too much, because I want you to really get a broth of ideas and images. This is a house that Charles and Ray designed. My sister is chasing someone else. It's not me. Although I endorse heartily the fact that he stole her diary, it's not me. And then this is a film, on the lower left, that Charles and Ray made. Now look at that plastic chair. The house is 1949. The chair is done in 1949.
我嘗試展示很多給你們看。 因為我想你們真的能體會靈感和圖象的精髓。 這間房屋是由查爾斯和蕾所設計。 我的姐妹正在追逐某人。那個人不是我。 雖然我衷心贊同他偷了她的日記這個事實,但那個人不是我。 左下角是查爾斯和蕾製作的短片。 現在看看那個塑膠椅子。 那間房子是一九四九的。 那個椅子也是於一九四九年完成。
Charles and Ray, they didn't obsess about style for it's own sake. They didn't say, "Our style is curves. Let's make the house curvy." They didn't say, "Our style is grids. Let's make the chair griddy." They focused on the need. They tried to solve the design problem. Charles used to say, "The extent to which you have a design style is the extent to which you have not solved the design problem." It's kind of a brutal quote. This is the earlier design of that house. And again, they managed to figure out a way to make a prototype of a house -- architecture, very expensive medium.
查爾斯和蕾, 他們沒有為風格而風格。 他們沒有說: 「我們的風格是波浪的。那麼我們把房子也設計成波浪吧。」 他們沒有說: 「我們的風格是格形的。那麼我們把椅子也設計成格子形狀。」 他們集中在需求方面。 他們嘗試著解決設計的問題。 查爾斯曾經說: 「你越有設計風格 越說明你沒有解決設計上的問題。」 這是一個很大胆的引述。 這是那間房子較初期的設計。 而再一次他們能夠找一個方法去製造一個樣板屋 建築是一個非常昂貴的媒體。
Here's a film we've been hearing things about. The "Powers of Ten" is a film they made. If we watch the next clip, you're going to see the first version of "Powers of Ten," upper left. The familiar one on the lower right. The Eames' film Tops, lower left. And a lamp that Charles designed for a church.
這套短片就是你們所聽到的 "Powers of 10" 就是他們所製作的位片段 如果我們看看下一段影片 你們會看見"Powers of 10"的第一個版本出現在左上方 最熟悉的在右下方。 伊默斯的影片Tops,在左下方。 而那是查爾斯為教堂所設計的燈
Video: Which in turn belongs to a local group of galaxies. These form part of a grouping system much as the stars do. They are so many and so varied that from this distance they appear like the stars from Earth.
(影片):輪到那一個屬於本土星宿 它們形成一個團隊系統 就好像星星一樣。 它們從這個距離是如此的多及不同 它們好像在地球看到星星一樣。
ED: You've seen that film, and what's so great about this whole conference is that everybody has been talking about scale. Everybody here is coming at it from a different way. I want to give you one example. E.O. Wilson once told me that when he looked at ants -- he loved them, of course, and he wanted to learn more about them -- he consciously looked at them from the standpoint of scale. So here is the tiny creature. And yet simply by changing the frame of reference it reveals so much, including what ended up being the TED Prize.
(ED):你看過這套影片 它是何等偉大呢 整個會議所有人都正在談及尺度。 每個人展現尺度的方式都不同。 我想給你們一個例子。 E. O. 威爾遜有一次向我說當他觀看螞蟻時 -- 他喜歡牠們, 當然, 他很想知道牠們多一些 -- 他又意識地從尺度方面去看螞蟻。 這是一個細小的生物。 而只要稍微改變一下角度 就能反映很多,包括最終得到 TED 大獎。
Modeling, they tried modeling all the time. They were always modeling things. And I think part of that is that they never delegated understanding. And I think in our family we were very lucky, because we learned about design backwards. Design was not something other. It was part of the business of life in general. It was part of the quality of life. And here is some family pictures. And you can see why I'm down on style, with a haircut like that. But anyway, (Laughter) I remember the cut grapefruit that we would have at the Eames house when I was a kid. So we're going to watch another film.
模型,他們經常做模模型。他們經常把事物做成模型。 我想部份原因是他們從沒支配觀念。 我感覺我的家庭很幸運。 因為我們是倒過來學設計的。 設計不是別的。 它是日常生活的一部份。 它是生活質素的一部份。 這是一些家庭照片。 你們會知道為什麼我不主張風格,有一個這樣的髮型。 但無論如何,(笑) 我還記得我小時候到伊默斯家一起去切葡萄柚的情景。 我們看看下一段片段。
This is a film, the one called Toys. You can see me, I have the same haircut, in the upper right corner. Upper left is a film they did on toy trains. Lower right is a solar do-nothing toy. Lower left is Day-of-the-Dead toys. Charles used to say that toys are not as innocent as they appear. They are often the precursor to bigger things. And these ideas -- that train up there, being about the honest use of materials, is totally the same as the honest use of materials in the plywood.
這套影片名叫"玩具"。 你看見我,一樣的髮型,在右上方。 左上方在一段他們拍攝玩具火車的片段。 右下方是一個沒有任何功能的太陽能玩具。 左下方有"Day-of-the-Dead"玩具。 查爾斯經常說玩具不像它們看起來那樣單純。 它們時常領導一些大事情。 這個概念 -- 在那個火車上,最誠實地運用了物料, 也是完全 跟很誠實地用膠合板一樣。
And now I'm going to test you. This is a letter that my grandfather sent to my mom when she was five years old. So can you read it? Lucia angel, okay, eye.
現在讓我考考你們。 這是我祖父寫給那時只有五歲的媽媽。 你們能讀嗎? 路西亞天使, 好,眼 (我)。
Audience: Saw many trains.
(觀眾):看見了很多火車。
ED: Awl, also, good that the leather crafter's guild is here. Also, what is he doing? Row, rowed. Sun? No. Well is there another name for a sunrise? Dawn, very good. Also rode on one. I ...
ED:並且,幸好那個皮革工匠的團體在此。 再者,他正在做些什麼? 划船,乘坐火車。 太陽? 不是。 嗯,是否有第二個名稱代表日出? 破曉。 很好。 並且,坐在其中之一。 我……
Audience: You had, I hope you had --
(觀眾):你有,我希望你有 --
ED: Now you've been to the website Dogs of Saint Louis in the late, in the mid-1930's, then you'd know that was a Great Dane. So, I hope you had a
ED: 現在你們到過聖路易愛犬之家的網站 在一九三零年代的後期,或中期, 那麼你應該知道那個是大丹狗。 所以,我希望你有個
Audience: Nice time, time --
(觀眾):美好的時光,時間 --
ED: Time at. Citizen Kane, rose --
ED:時光在。 Citizen Kane (地方名稱), 玫瑰 --
Audience: Rosebud.
(觀眾):玫瑰花蕾。
ED: No, bud. "D"'s right. At Buddy's --
ED:不,花蕾。 D 是正確。 在朋友的 --
Audience: Party. Love.
(觀眾):派對。 愛你的。
ED: Okay, good. So, "I saw many trains and also rode on one. I hope you had a nice time at Buddy's party." So you guys did pretty good, cool. So my mom and Charles had this great relationship where they'd send those sorts of things back and forth to one another. And it's all part of the, you know, they used to say, "Take your pleasure seriously."
ED: 可以了。很好。 所以全文就是,“我看見很多火車亦坐在其中之一。 我希望你在朋友的派對中有一個美好的時光。” 你們做得非常好,很酷。 我媽媽和查爾斯有這個良好的關係 他們經常互相傳遞這些東西。 這些都是所謂的,你知道, 他們曾說的:”認真享受樂趣。”
These are some images from a project of mine that's called Kymaerica. It's sort of an alternative universe. It's kind of a reinterpretation of the landscape. Those plaques are plaques we've been installing around North America. We're about to do six in the U.K. next week. And they honor events in the linear world from the fictional world. So, of course, since it's bronze it has to be true.
這些是我的一個計劃的照片 它們叫”流紋岩音頻“。 它們可以說是另類的宇宙。 它是一種對風景的從新演繹。 那些銘牌是我們把它在北美到處安裝。 我們下星期會在英國安裝六個。 它們記念著在虛構的世界中所發生的事情。 當然,因為它們用銅製造所以它是真確的。
Video: Kymaerica with waterfalls, tumbling through our --
(影片):流紋岩音頻的瀑布, 翻滾在我們的 --
ED: This is one of the traditional Kymaerican songs. And so we had spelling bees in Paris, Illinois.
ED: 這是一個流紋岩音頻的傳統歌曲。 而我們在伊利諾州巴黎有一個串字大賽。
Video: Your word is N. Carolina.
(影片):你的生字是北卡羅來納州。
Girl: Y-I-N-D-I-A-N-A.
(女孩): Y - I - N - D - I - A - N - A
ED: And then Embassy Row is actually a historical site, because in the Kymaerican story this is where the Parisian Diaspora started, where there embassy was. So you can actually visit and have this three-dimensional fictional experience there. And the town has really embraced it. We had the spelling bee in conjunction with the Gwomeus Club.
ED: 而「使館行」實際上是一個歷史地標。 因為在流紋岩音頻的故事裡 那就是巴黎人大流散的發源地,就是那個使館所在。 你可以實地參觀享受立體的 虛擬經歷。 而那個城鎮對此非常喜歡。 我們與Gwomeus Club 有一個串字比賽。
But what is really cool is that we take our visual environment as inevitable. And it's not. Other things could have happened. The Japanese could have discovered Monterey. And we could have been born 100,000 years ago. And there are a lot of fun things. This is the Museum of the Bench. They have trading cards and all sorts of cool things. And you're kind of trapped in the texture of Kymaerica. The Tahatchabe, the great road building culture. A guy named Nobu Naga, the so-called Japanese Columbus. But now I'm going to return you to the real world.
但最酷的事情是我們把視覺環境 成為必然。 其實不然。 其他事情可能發生。 日本人可能發現蒙特瑞。 而我們可能於十萬年前出生。 世上有很多有趣的事情。 這是長椅子博物館。 他們有交換卡片。 以及很多很酷的東西。 你們可以有一種被困在流紋岩音頻的感覺。 Tahatchabe, 有一個很偉大的道路建築的文化。 有一個男子名叫織田信長, 亦稱為日本哥倫布。 我現在將帶領你們回到真實世界。
And this is Cranbrook. I've got a real treat for you, which is the first film that Charles ever made. So let's watch that. Nobody's ever seen it. Cranbrook is very generous to let us show it for the first time here. It's a film about Maya Gretel, a famous ceramicist, and a teacher at Cranbrook. And he made it for the 1939 faculty exhibition. Silent. We don't have a track for it yet. Very simple. It's just a start. But it's that learn-by-doing thing. You want to learn how to make films? Go make a movie. And you try something out.
這個是Cranbrook。 我有個驚喜給大家。 就是查爾斯製作的第一部影片。 那麼我們一起看吧。從來沒有人看過呢。 Cranbrook 非常慷慨讓我們在這裡首次播放。 它是有關Maya Gretel的影片。她是一位有名的陶瓷藝術家,亦曾在Cranbrook任教。 而查爾斯是為一九三九年的系展而作。 無聲的。我們還沒有加上音軌。 很簡單。這只是一個開始。但這代表"學由做起"的概念。 你想學怎樣製作影片嗎? 那麼就製作一部影片吧。 你嘗試把它製造出來。
But here is what's really great. See that chair there? The orange one? That's the organic chair. 1940. At the same time that Charles was doing that chair, he was doing this film. So my point is that this scope of vision, this holistic vision of design, was with them from the beginning. It wasn't like "Oh, we made some chairs and got successful. Now we're going to do some movies." It was always part of how they looked at the world. And that's what's really powerful. And I think that all of us in this room, as you move design forward, it's not about just doing one thing. It's about how you approach problems. And there is this huge, beautiful commonality between design, business and the world. So we're going to do the last clip. And I've shown you some of the images. I just want to focus on sound now. So this is Charles' voice.
這就是最厲害的。 看見那張椅子嗎? 橘黃色那個? 這是有機椅子。 一九四零年。 查爾斯在做那張椅子的同時, 他也在製作這段影片。 所以我要指出的事這種寬闊的視野,對藝術的全面 見解,是從一開始已在他們當中。 而不是,"我們製作了一些椅子,成功了。 那麼現在我們去製作電影吧。" 這是他們如何觀察世界的一部份。而那是如此的具影響力。 我想在座的各位,當你們推動設計時, 你們不只為作一件東西。 而是有關你如何對付問題。這就是設計、商業和世界 之間偉大而美麗的共同點。 我們去看看最後的影片。 我已經展示了部分影像。我現在只想集中在聲音上。 這是查爾斯的聲音。
Charles Eames: In India, those without, and the lowest in caste, eat very often, particularly in southern India, they eat off of a banana leaf. And those a little bit up the scale eat off of a sort of a low-fired ceramic dish. And a little bit higher, why they have a glaze on a thing they call a thali. If you're up the scale a little bit more, why, a brass thali. And then things get to be a little questionable. There are things like silver-plated thalis. And there is solid silver thalis. And I suppose some nut has had a gold thali that he's eaten off of.
(查爾斯·伊默斯):在印度,那些沒有可以吃的而又在社會地位最低的人, 尤其是在印度南部,很大機會, 是用蕉葉來吃東西。 而那些地位高一點兒的人 就從這些所謂的低溫燃燒的陶器碟子上吃。 再高一點兒的人,他們的陶器就有一層叫 ”塔利(thali)的釉彩。 如果你的地位再高一些, 就是黃銅塔利。 然後事情開始變得有點離譜。 有些東西像鍍銀的塔利。 還有純銀塔利。 我猜想還有些人 用金做的塔利。
But you can go beyond that. And the guys that have not only means, but a certain amount of knowledge and understanding, go to the next step, and they eat off a banana leaf. And I think that in these times when we fall back and regroup, that somehow or other, the banana leaf parable sort of got to get working there, because I'm not prepared to say that the banana leaf that one eats off of is the same as the other eats off of. But it is that process that has happened within the man that changes the banana leaf.
甚至更誇張也有可能。 這些傢伙不但有財產, 亦有某程度的知識及思想, 而再進下一步,他們用蕉葉來吃東西。 我經常想 當我們放下自己,再重新結合, 或可能, 蕉葉的寓言 能某程度可行。 因為我沒有準備說 那些用蕉葉來吃的 跟用其他來吃的是相同的。 但這是人類中所發生的演變過程, 將蕉葉轉變。
ED: I've been looking forward to sharing that quote with you. Because that's part of where we've got to get to. And I also want to share this one. "Beyond the age of information is the age of choices." And I really think that's where we are. And it's kind of cool for me to be part of a family and a tradition where he was talking about that in 1978. And part of why this stuff is important and all the things that we do are important, is that these are the ideas we need. And I think that this is all part of surrendering to the design journey. That's what we all need to do. Design is not just for designers anymore. It's a process. It's not style. All that great thinking needs to really get about solving pretty key problems. I really thank you for your time. (Applause)
ED: 我期望與大家分享以下的引言。 因為這是我們所達到的。 我亦想分享這個。 ”資訊時代之後就是選擇的時代。“ 我確實相信我們正處身其中。 我感到榮幸可以成為這個家庭和 他在一九七八年所說的傳統思想裡的一份子。 這些之所以重要 而我們所有做過的東西是那麼重要, 是因為我們需要這些點子。 而我想這是因為聽任於設計的旅程。 這是我們應做的。 設計不再只是局限於設計師。這是過程。不是風格。 所有偉大的思想是需要能夠確實 解決非常重要的問題。 我衷心感謝你的時間。 (鼓掌)