Rare Eames masterpieces are heading to auction

The Eames Office, the studio founded by the revered American designers Charles and Ray Eames, is partnering with online marketplace Catawiki for a series of auctions showcasing rare and limited-edition pieces. Running from 3 October 2025 through early 2026, the auctions will offer collectors a unique opportunity to acquire original designs by the duo.

Approximately 30 pieces will be available, reflecting the breadth of the Eameses’ accessible, beautiful and functional work, which spanned furniture, architecture, film, graphic design and education. Included are sculptural pieces, graphic ephemera, and limited-edition reissues of classic furniture, toys, and other collector’s items.

Among the highlights are the ‘Molded Plywood Sculpture’, a 2022 re-edition of a 1943 prototype, produced in an exclusive run of 12 pieces and crafted using the Eameses’ signature layered plywood technique. The ‘Eames Fiberglass Chair with Steinberg Cat’ offers a whimsical, 2023 collector’s edition of the classic chair, featuring a hand-drawn cat by artist Saul Steinberg, a longtime friend of the designers; he had originally applied his artwork to one of their chairs in 1950.

The ‘Eames Elephant’ will also be up for auction, a 2007 Vitra reissue of the 1945 moulded plywood toy. The ‘Men of Modern Mathematics’ timeline (1966) – a 3.7m-long printed chart from the ‘Mathematica’ exhibition, designed by the Eameses – visually maps the evolution of mathematics. A limited-edition plywood mobile (released by Eames Office and Vitra in 2023), a piece that reflects Ray Eames’ fascination with kinetic form, is presented in a unique finish.

Eames Demetrios, director of the Eames Office and grandson of Charles and Ray, underscores the role that collectors play in preserving the Eameses’ legacy. Taking the ‘Eames Elephant’ as an example, he notes: ‘We played with [it] as kids, but it was so difficult to manufacture that we were pretty much the only ones. A [2007] collector's edition for Charles' centennial brought it back. And while the “Eames Elephant” is now enjoyed widely, that numbered first edition is what the collector wants.’

He adds: ‘Our partnership with Catawiki is an exciting step forward in ensuring collectors across the globe can access, appreciate, and, if they are successful, live with these particularly iconic Eames designs – including elephants!’

Morten Valther Graae Joergensen, vice president of interiors at Catawiki, emphasises the platform’s mission to make great design more accessible by offering rare and archival pieces to a wider audience: ‘By [doing this], we’re not only celebrating the brilliance of the Eameses, we’re helping design lovers take part in keeping that legacy alive for the next generation.’