Eames Demetrios wears many different hats, but he is best known in the design world for his work as director of the Eames Office spearheading the successful re-discovery of the Charles and Ray Eames design heritage by new generations. The mission of the Eames Office is communicating, preserving and extending the work of Charles and Ray Eames. Among his many achievements in this capacity is the multimedia component of the Library of Congress/Vitra Design Museum Eames exhibition, the CD-ROM Powers of Ten, the re-introduction of many Eames furniture pieces, and the release and video restoration of the Eames films. In addition, he works closely with Herman Miller and Vitra to be sure the Eames furniture is always made authentically and was instrumental in the founding of the Eames Foundation (to preserve the Eames House). He has also written a book about Charles and Ray Eames — An Eames Primer, intended as a thematic biography of their life, work, process and philosophy, now widely used by schools.

In addition, Demetrios is an artist and filmmaker. His current large-scale project, Kymaerica, is a multi pronged and ongoing reinterpretation of the North American landscape and has been underway for several years. Manifestations include writings, video, performances, images, installation, limited edition prints and more.

Demetrios has made over 40 films and videos of various lengths over the past 20 years or so. Themes and topics include a fiction feature on homelessness, a documentary on Sambo Mockbee’s Rural Studio, and the Malibu/Old Topanga Fire. His most recent purely film projects include Ping Pong, capturing the design process of Frank Gehry, and Carnival in Chiapas, about the modern Maya of southern Mexico.

His work is in a number of private collections and that of University of Georgia. His film and video works have shown at numerous museums and festivals: Library of Congress, Gulbenkian (Portugal), Smithsonian Institution, MOCA (LA), LACMA (LA), Meguro Art Museum (Tokyo), Film Forum (LA), Sundance Film Festival, Cairo Film Festival, and dozens more. Grants received include the Long Beach Open Channels grant (for video art), the Peter Norton Foundation, and others.

No matter which hat, he brings out the adventurous side of his creative partners, institutions such as the Library of Congress and Portugal’s Gulbenkian Foundation, and businesses like Universal Studios and Interface, Inc (a billion dollar flooring company run on sustainable principles). For Interface, he writes the Eames Design Blog for their InterfaceFLOR.com website, focused on design and sustainability issues.

Other important clients include Emeco, the Albers Foundation and the California Academy of Sciences. He also gives talks all over the US and internationally (more than 12 countries spanning 5 continents). Demetrios continues to lecture frequently on many subjects, ranging from design to science, from sustainability to his own work. He lives in southern California with his wife and two children.

You can learn more at www.eamesdemetrios.com and www.kymaerica.com. You can learn more about the Eames Office at www.eamesoffice.com.