The design genius of Charles + Ray Eames

翻译人员: Menglu Wang 校对人员: Angelia King

Charles and Ray were a team. They were husband and wife.

查尔斯和蕾.伊默斯是一个团队，也是一对夫妇。

Despite the New York Times' and Vanity Fair's best efforts recently,

虽然最近《纽约时报》和《名利场》杂志有很多关于查尔斯和蕾.伊默斯的报道，

they're not brothers. (Laughter)

但是他们经常被误认是兄弟。

And they were a lot of fun.

而且他们是相当幽默的一对。

You know, Ray was the one who wore the ampersands in the family.

你知道，蕾是家里那个在脸上画“&"符号的人。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

We are going to focus on Charles today, because it is Charles' 100th birthday.

今天我们要把目光放到查尔斯的身上，因为今天是他的100岁生日诞辰。

But when I speak of him, I'm really speaking of both of them as a team.

但是当我谈论他这个人时，我其实把他们俩当成一个整体。

Here's Charles when he was three. So he would be 100 this June.

这是查尔斯三岁的样子。到六月他就100岁了。

We have a lot of cool celebrations that we're going to do.

我们会举办许多精彩的庆祝活动。

The thing about their work

提到他们的作品

is that most people come to the door of furniture --

大多数人会想到家具--

I suspect you probably recognize this chair

我猜你们可能认识这把椅子，

and some of the others I'm going to show you.

还有其他一些我即将展示的作品。

But we're going to first enter through the door of the Big Top.

但是我们今天要从Big Top入手。

The whole thing about this, though, is that, you know, why am I showing it?

关于它，说到底，你们会问，为什么我要展示它？

Is it because Charles and Ray made this film?

是因为查尔斯和蕾制作了这部电影吗？

This is actually a training film for a clown college that they had.

这个其实是为他们的小丑学校做的教程视频。

They also practiced a clown act when the future of furniture

当人们还不觉得家具会发展得兴盛的时候，

was not nearly as auspicious as it turned out to be.

他们自己也曾扮演过小丑的角色。

There is a picture of Charles. So let's watch the next clip.

这是查尔斯的照片，我们来看下一段视频。

The film that we're about to see is a film they made for the Moscow World's Fair.

我们将看到的这部电影是他们为莫斯科世界博览会做的。

Video: This is the land.

视频：这是我们的土地。

It has many contrasts.

它包含很多反差。

It is rough and it is flat.

有粗糙亦有平坦之处。

In places it is cold.

有些地方寒冷。

In some it is hot.

有些地方炎热。

Too much rain falls on some areas,

有的地方暴雨不断。

and not enough on others.

有的地方旱灾严重。

But people live on this land.

但人们生活在这片土地上，

And, as in Russia,

而且，和在俄罗斯的人们一样，

they are drawn together into towns and cities.

他们聚集到城镇和城市里来。

Here is something of the way they live.

这是他们生活的一瞥。

Eames Demetrios: Now, this is a film that was hardly ever seen in the United States.

伊默斯.德米特里：现在在美国几乎看不到这部片子了。

It was on seven screens and it was 200 feet across.

当时它在七个屏幕上同时放映，有200英尺宽。

And it was at the height of the Cold War.

而且那时正处在冷战的高峰期。

The Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen Debate

尼克松与克鲁晓夫的“厨房辩论”

happened about 50 feet from where this was shown.

就在离放映厅50英尺的地方举行。

And yet, how did it start?

然而，这部片子是如何开头的？

You know, commonality, the first line

你知道，由“共性”开头，

in Charles' narration was,

查尔斯叙述的第一句是：

"The same stars that shine down on Russia

“俄罗斯上空的星光

shine down on the United States. From the sky,

同样洒在美利坚的土地上，

our cities look much the same."

从空中看，我们的城市十分相像。”

It was that human connection that Charles and Ray always found in everything.

查尔斯和蕾总是在事物中寻找人性的相通性。

And you can imagine, and the thing about it is,

你们可以想象，他们俩当时

that they believed that the human mind could handle this number of images

相信人的思维可以一下子接受这么多图像，

because the important thing was to get the gestalt

因为重要的是在看这些图像时

of what the images were about.

寻找某一刻的顿悟。

So that was just a little snip.

看完了这个小片段。

But the thing about Charles and Ray

现在再说查尔斯和蕾，

is that they were always modeling stuff.

他们总是在制作一些模型。

They were always trying things out.

他们总是在尝试新事物。

I think one of the things I am passionate about, my grandparents work,

我热爱我祖父母的作品。

I'm passionate about my work,

我热爱我的工作。

but on top of all that I'm passionate

但在我热爱的这些之上

about a holistic vision of design,

最重要的是对设计的整体视角，

where design is a life skill, not a professional skill.

把设计当成生活技能，而不是职业技能的态度。

And you know, those of us with kids often want our kids to take music.

你知道，有孩子的人总是希望孩子学习点音乐。

I'm no exception.

我也不例外。

But it's not about them becoming Bono or Tracy Chapman.

但并不是要孩子成为博诺（U2乐队主唱）或特蕾西.查普曼。

It's about getting that music thing going through their heads and their thinking.

而是要让孩子的头脑和思考中有音乐的概念。

Design is the same way. Design has to become that same way.

设计也是一样，也得成为这样。

And this is a model that they did of that seven-screen presentation.

这是他们为那次七个屏幕的展示做的一个模型。

And Charles just checking it out there.

查尔斯在那儿调试着。

So now we're going to go through that door of furniture.

现在我们来谈谈家具。

This is an unusual installation of airport seating.

这是个不同寻常的机场座位设计。

So what we're going to see is some of the icons of Eames furniture.

我们将看到的是伊默斯家具中的代表性作品。

And the thing about their furniture is that they said the role of the designer

提起家具，他们说设计者扮演的角色

was essentially that of a good host,

本质上就像一个

anticipating the needs of the guest.

盼着招待客人的、热情的主人。

So those are cool images. But these are ones I think are really cool.

我们看到一些精彩的照片，这些真的很棒。

These are all the prototypes. These are the mistakes,

现在看到的都是模型，是次品。

although I don't think mistakes is the right word in design.

不过我认为在设计这个领域不存在次品。

It's just the things you try out

只是一次次尝试的产品

to kind of make it work better.

为的是越做越好。

And you know some of them would probably be terrible chairs.

你知道，它们之中有些的确会成为糟糕的椅子。

Some of them are kind of cool looking. It's like "Hey, why didn't they try that?"

有些却看起来挺不错，人们会说“咦，他们怎么没试试这一个？”

It was that hands-on iterative process

这种动手操作的、反反复复的过程

which is so much like vernacular design

很像传统文化中的

and folk design in traditional cultures.

地方设计和民俗设计。

And I think that's one of the commonalities between modernism

我认为这也是现代主义和传统设计中的相似之处。

and traditional design. I think it may be a real common ground

我觉得当我们考虑接下来20-30年究竟做什么时，

as we kind of figure out what on earth to do in the next 20 or 30 years.

这是个真正的共同出发点。

The other thing that's kind of cool is that

另一个有意思的现象是：

you look at this and in the media when people say design,

通常人们提到“设计”，

they actually mean style.

他们想说的其实是“时尚风格”。

And I'm really here to talk about design.

而我在这里谈的是纯粹的“设计”。

But you know the object is just a pivot.

但你知道目标只是个中枢，

It's a pivot between a process and a system.

是“过程”与“系统”之间的中枢。

And this is a little film I made

这是我自己做的一个小短片，

about the making of the Eames lounge chair.

内容是关于伊默斯的休息室椅子。

The design process for Charles and Ray

对查尔斯和蕾来说

never ended in manufacturing.

设计的过程从不止于生产，

It continued. They were always trying to make thing better and better.

而是继续发展下去，他们永远在尝试做得更好。

Because it's like as Bill Clinton was saying about Rwandan health clinics.

就像比尔.克林顿谈到卢旺达的卫生诊所时说的一样，

It's not enough to create one.

创造一个是不够的，

You've got to create a system that will work better and better.

必须创造一个不断进步的系统使之越来越完善。

So I've always liked this prototype picture.

所以我一直很喜欢这张标准图片。

Because it just kind of, you know, doesn't get any more basic than that.

它真的是，你知道，简单到不能再简单了。

You try things out.

人们始终尝试着新事物。

This is a relatively famous chair.

这把椅子比较有名。

Its early version had an "X" base. That's what the collectors like.

之前的版本有个“X”形的底座，收藏家们喜欢那样的。

Charles and Ray liked this one because it was better.

查尔斯和蕾却喜欢这把，因为它更好。

It worked better: "H" base, much more practical.

“H”形的底座实用得多。

This is something called a splint.

这是个藤木片。

And I was very touched by Dean Kamen's

迪安.基曼为军队和战士所做的工作

work for the military, or for the soldiers,

令我十分感动。

because Charles and Ray designed a molded plywood splint. This is it.

因为查尔斯和蕾设计了一个模压制的胶合板藤木条，就是这个。

And they'd been working on furniture before.

之前他们研究过家具，

But doing these splints they learned a lot about the manufacturing process,

但是做这些藤木条让他们学会了关于制作过程的很多东西，

which was incredibly important to them.

这对他们实在太重要了。

I'm trying to show you too much,

我呈现了很多的内容。

because I want you to really get a broth of ideas and images.

因为我想让你们感受创意和图像的大杂烩。

This is a house that Charles and Ray designed.

这栋房子是查尔斯和蕾设计的。

My sister is chasing someone else. It's not me.

我姐姐在追的不是我，是别人。

Although I endorse heartily the fact that he stole her diary, it's not me.

虽然我清楚这个人偷了我姐姐的日记，但他真的不是我。

And then this is a film, on the lower left, that Charles and Ray made.

左下角是查尔斯和蕾制作的一部片子。

Now look at that plastic chair.

再看看那把塑料椅。

The house is 1949.

你们看到的是这座房子在1949年的样子。

The chair is done in 1949.

这把椅子就是在1949年做的。

Charles and Ray,

查尔斯和蕾

they didn't obsess about style for it's own sake.

并不是为了时尚而时尚。

They didn't say, "Our style is curves. Let's make the house curvy."

他们从不会说：“我们的款式是曲线，我们把房子做成曲线的吧。”

They didn't say, "Our style is grids. Let's make the chair griddy."

也不会说：“我们的风格是格子，我们把椅子做成格子的吧。”

They focused on the need.

他们关注的是需求。

They tried to solve the design problem.

他们试图解决设计上的问题。

Charles used to say, "The extent to which you have a design style

查尔斯曾经说：“你越有设计风格，

is the extent to which you have not solved the design problem."

越说明你没有解决设计上的问题。”

It's kind of a brutal quote.

这句引言有点残酷。

This is the earlier design of that house.

这是那栋房子最早的设计。

And again, they managed to figure out a way to make a prototype

同样的，他们设法做出了一个

of a house -- architecture, very expensive medium.

房子的模型。建筑是非常昂贵的。

Here's a film we've been hearing things about.

这部片子大家听说过一些。

The "Powers of Ten" is a film they made.

"Powers of Ten"是他们做的一部片子。

If we watch the next clip,

来看下一个片断。

you're going to see the first version of "Powers of Ten," upper left.

你们可以在左上角看到“Powers of Ten"的第一个版本。

The familiar one on the lower right.

右下角是为人熟知的版本。

The Eames' film Tops, lower left.

左下角是伊默斯的影片Tops。

And a lamp that Charles designed for a church.

还有查尔斯为一所教堂设计的灯。

Video: Which in turn belongs to a local group of galaxies.

视频：而它又是星系的一部分。

These form part of a grouping system

这就组成了一个系统

much as the stars do.

就像恒星组成系统一样。

They are so many and so varied that from this distance

它们数量巨大，各不相同，所以从遥远的地球看

they appear like the stars from Earth.

他们像恒星一样。

ED: You've seen that film, and what's so great about this

伊默斯.德米特里：你们看过这部影片，

whole conference is that everybody has been talking about scale.

它好就好在涉及到人们所说的“尺度”。

Everybody here is coming at it from a different way.

每个人展现尺度的方式都不同。

I want to give you one example.

我举一个例子。

E.O. Wilson once told me that when he looked at ants --

E.O.威尔逊有次告诉我，

he loved them, of course, and he wanted to learn more about them --

他喜欢看蚂蚁，当然也想多了解蚂蚁，

he consciously looked at them from the standpoint of scale.

他有意识地从尺度这方面去看蚂蚁。

So here is the tiny creature.

你们现在看到的是蚂蚁这个小东西。

And yet simply by changing the frame of reference

仅仅把参照系改变，

it reveals so much, including what ended up being the TED Prize.

它就展现了这么多东西，后来他甚至获得TED大奖。

Modeling, they tried modeling all the time. They were always modeling things.

人们始终在制作模型。

And I think part of that is that they never delegated understanding.

我觉得原因之一是他们没有把理解派上用场。

And I think in our family we were very lucky,

我感觉我的家庭很幸运。

because we learned about design backwards.

因为我们是倒过来学设计的。

Design was not something other.

设计不是别的，

It was part of the business of life in general.

是总体生活的一部分，

It was part of the quality of life.

是生活质量的一部分。

And here is some family pictures.

这是一些家庭照。

And you can see why I'm down on style, with a haircut like that.

大家可以看出为什么我的造型不怎么样，发型会搞成这样。

But anyway, (Laughter)

不提这个了，（笑声）

I remember the cut grapefruit that we would have at the Eames house when I was a kid.

我记得我还是孩子的时候，伊默斯全家切柚子的情景。

So we're going to watch another film.

我们再看一部影片，

This is a film, the one called Toys.

这部影片叫“玩具”。

You can see me, I have the same haircut, in the upper right corner.

你们能看见我，在右上角，还留着那时的发型。

Upper left is a film they did on toy trains.

左上角是他们拍的关于玩具火车的片子。

Lower right is a solar do-nothing toy.

右下角是个太阳能玩具，没什么实际功能。

Lower left is Day-of-the-Dead toys.

左下角是些鬼节玩具。

Charles used to say that toys are not as innocent as they appear.

查尔斯曾经说玩具并没有它们看起来那么单纯，

They are often the precursor to bigger things.

它们常常是更大事物的前兆。

And these ideas -- that train up there, being about the honest use of materials,

这些主意——比如那列火车

is totally the same

在对于材料的坦率运用上

as the honest use of materials in the plywood.

和胶合板本质上是一样的。

And now I'm going to test you.

现在我要测试你们。

This is a letter that my grandfather sent to my mom when she was five years old.

这是我母亲五岁时外公写给她的信。

So can you read it?

你们能读懂吗？

Lucia angel,

露西娅小天使，

okay, eye.

好的，“我”（原文谐音）

Audience: Saw many trains.

观众：“看见了很多火车”

ED: Awl, also, good that the leather crafter's guild is here.

伊默斯.德米特里：“而且……幸好这有皮革工匠的提示。”

Also, what is he doing? Row, rowed.

“而且”，他做了什么？“坐，坐了”（原文谐音）

Sun? No. Well is there another name for a sunrise?

Sun太阳?不对，有近义词吗？

Dawn, very good.

“一趟”（原文谐音），非常好。

Also rode on one. I ...

“而且坐了一趟，我……”

Audience: You had, I hope you had --

观众：“你度过，我希望你在……”

ED: Now you've been to the website Dogs of Saint Louis

伊默斯.德米特里：如果你去过“圣路易斯的狗”这个网站

in the late, in the mid-1930's,

20世纪30年代中后期的一个网站，

then you'd know that was a Great Dane.

那么你会知道这个。

So, I hope you had a

继续，“我希望你在”

Audience: Nice time, time --

观众：“……派对上……”

ED: Time at.

伊默斯.德米特里：“度过了”

Citizen Kane, rose --

“美……”

Audience: Rosebud.

观众：“美丽”

ED: No, bud. "D"'s right. At Buddy's --

伊默斯.德米特里：不，“美”是对的，“美好”

Audience: Party. Love.

观众：“……时光，爱你的爸爸”。

ED: Okay, good.

伊默斯.德米特里：好的，很好。

So, "I saw many trains and also rode on one.

连起来，“我看见很多火车，而且坐了一趟。

I hope you had a nice time at Buddy's party."

我希望你在派对上度过了美好时光。”

So you guys did pretty good, cool.

你们大家挺厉害的，不错。

So my mom and Charles had this great relationship

我母亲和查尔斯关系密切，

where they'd send those sorts of things back and forth to one another.

他们经常互相写这样的东西。

And it's all part of the, you know,

这也符合他们所说的

they used to say, "Take your pleasure seriously."

“认真地娱乐完全享受乐趣”。

These are some images from a project of mine

这些照片里是我的一个项目

that's called Kymaerica.

叫做Kymaerica流纹岩音频。

It's sort of an alternative universe.

它就像另一个宇宙

It's kind of a reinterpretation of the landscape.

把风景都重新展示。

Those plaques are plaques we've been installing around North America.

这些饰板我们在北美到处都在做。

We're about to do six in the U.K. next week.

下周我们要在英国做六个。

And they honor events in the linear world from the fictional world.

它们为各世界中的事件赋予荣誉。

So, of course, since it's bronze it has to be true.

当然了，它是青铜制，所以肯定是真的。

Video: Kymaerica with waterfalls,

视频：Kymaerica流纹岩音频和瀑布

tumbling through our --

一起坠落到我们的……

ED: This is one of the traditional Kymaerican songs.

伊默斯.德米特里：这是Kymaerica流纹岩音频的传统歌曲之一。

And so we had spelling bees in Paris, Illinois.

我们在伊利诺伊州帕里斯市举办了拼写比赛。

Video: Your word is N. Carolina.

视频：你的词是N. Carolina北卡罗来纳。

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,

伊默斯.德米特里：领馆区其实是个历史景点。

because in the Kymaerican story

因为在Kymaerica流纹岩音频的故事里

this is where the Parisian Diaspora started, where there embassy was.

帕里斯人最早的流散就是在这里开始的。

So you can actually visit and have this three-dimensional

你可以去拜访，并且在那儿

fictional experience there.

体会三D立体的科幻感觉。

And the town has really embraced it.

这个城镇欣然接受了它。

We had the spelling bee in conjunction with the Gwomeus Club.

我们和Gwomeus俱乐部联合举办了拼写比赛。

But what is really cool is that we take our visual environment

但最酷的事情是：我们常把视觉环境看成无法避免的，

as inevitable. And it's not.

其实不然。

Other things could have happened. The Japanese could have discovered Monterey.

其他事情可以发生的。日本人完全可能首先发现蒙特利公园。

And we could have been born 100,000 years ago.

我们完全可能产生在十万年前。

And there are a lot of fun things. This is the Museum of the Bench.

很多事情很有意思。这是长凳博物馆，

They have trading cards

他们有供人收藏的卡片。

and all sorts of cool things.

还有其他有趣的东西。

And you're kind of trapped in the texture of Kymaerica.

你就好像陷入了Kymaerica流纹岩音频的纹理之中，

The Tahatchabe, the great road building culture.

例如伟大的道路修建文化Tahatchabe。

A guy named Nobu Naga,

一个叫信长的人，

the so-called Japanese Columbus.

被称作日本的哥伦布。

But now I'm going to return you to the real world.

不过现在我要带你们回到现实世界。

And this is Cranbrook. I've got a real treat for you,

这里是克莱恩布鲁克院校，我有个惊喜给你们，

which is the first film that Charles ever made.

这是查尔斯制作的第一部影片。

So let's watch that. Nobody's ever seen it.

来看吧，从没有人看过呢。

Cranbrook is very generous to let us show it for the first time here.

克莱恩布鲁克慷慨地让我们在这里第一次看这部影片。

It's a film about Maya Gretel, a famous ceramicist, and a teacher at Cranbrook.

影片是关于玛雅.格莱特尔，著名陶瓷艺术家，也是在克莱恩布鲁克的老师。

And he made it for the 1939 faculty exhibition.

影片是为1939年教师展览而制。

Silent. We don't have a track for it yet.

无声电影，我们还没有影片的声效。

Very simple. It's just a start. But it's that learn-by-doing thing.

非常简单，只是刚开始，但熟能生巧。

You want to learn how to make films? Go make a movie.

你想学习做电影吗？去做部电影吧，

And you try something out.

尝试新事物。

But here is what's really great.

最厉害的是

See that chair there? The orange one? That's the organic chair. 1940.

看到那把椅子了吗？橙色的？那是把1940年的有机椅子。

At the same time that Charles was doing that chair,

查尔斯做那把椅子的同时

he was doing this film.

也在做这部影片。

So my point is that this scope of vision, this holistic vision

我想说的是，查尔斯和蕾自始至终

of design, was with them from the beginning.

都有宽大的视野、顾及整体的视野。

It wasn't like "Oh, we made some chairs and got successful.

这并不是说“我们做了椅子，很成功，

Now we're going to do some movies."

现在我们来做电影吧。”

It was always part of how they looked at the world. And that's what's really powerful.

一切都是他们看待世界的一部分，这才是真正强大的地方。

And I think that all of us in this room, as you move design forward,

我觉得对于这间屋子里的所有人，当你们把设计向前推进时，

it's not about just doing one thing.

它并不只关乎一件事。

It's about how you approach problems. And there is this huge, beautiful commonality

而在于你如何处理问题，在这一点上，

between design, business and the world.

设计、商务和这个世界之间都有巨大的、美丽的共通之处。

So we're going to do the last clip.

请来欣赏最后一个片断。

And I've shown you some of the images. I just want to focus on sound now.

我给你们看了一些图片了，现在来关注声音。

So this is Charles' voice.

这是查尔斯的声音。

Charles Eames: In India, those without, and the lowest in caste,

查尔斯.伊默斯：在印度，尤其是在印度南方，

eat very often, particularly in southern India,

种姓制度中最低级的人

they eat off of a banana leaf.

经常从香蕉叶里吃东西；

And those a little bit up the scale

稍微高等级的人

eat off of a sort of a low-fired ceramic dish.

从低火制作的陶瓷碗里吃饭；

And a little bit higher, why they have a glaze

再高一点等级

on a thing they call a thali.

他们在一种叫"塔利"的东西上加层釉；

If you're up the scale a little bit more,

再再高一层

why, a brass thali.

用黄铜塔利；

And then things get to be a little questionable.

再之后就有些离谱了。

There are things like silver-plated thalis.

例如还有人用镀银塔利，

And there is solid silver thalis.

还有纯银做的塔利。

And I suppose some nut has had a

我确定还有人曾经

gold thali that he's eaten off of.

用过金子做的塔利，

But you can go beyond that.

甚至更夸张也有可能。

And the guys that have not only means,

而这些人不仅有能力

but a certain amount of knowledge and understanding,

也有一定知识和理解力的人

go to the next step, and they eat off a banana leaf.

更进一步——他们用香蕉叶吃饭。

And I think that in these times

我认为当我们

when we fall back and regroup,

回到过去并重新编制自我的时候，

that somehow or other,

不知怎么地

the banana leaf parable

香蕉叶的寓言

sort of got to get working there,

很有道理。

because I'm not prepared to say

因为虽然我不想说

that the banana leaf that one eats off of

某个人用的香蕉叶

is the same as the other eats off of.

和别人用的一样。

But it is that process that has happened within the man

但是人类自身的变化过程

that changes the banana leaf.

改变了那片香蕉叶。

ED: I've been looking forward to sharing that quote with you.

伊默斯.德米特里：我一直盼着和你们分享这段话。

Because that's part of where we've got to get to.

因为我们必须提到这个，

And I also want to share this one.

我还想分享这个。

"Beyond the age of information is the age of choices."

“信息时代之后将是选择时代。”

And I really think that's where we are.

我真的相信我们就处在那样的时代。

And it's kind of cool for me to be part of a family

这个家庭和这份传统在1978年产生这样的话

and a tradition where he was talking about that in 1978.

作为其中一员，我很荣幸。

And part of why this stuff is important

这些之所以重要

and all the things that we do are important,

我们做的所有事情之所以重要

is that these are the ideas we need.

是因为我们需要这些点子。

And I think that this is all part of surrendering to the design journey.

这都是臣服于设计之旅必须的部分。

That's what we all need to do.

这也是我们需要做的。

Design is not just for designers anymore. It's a process. It's not style.

设计不再只属于设计师了，它是个过程，不是风格。

All that great thinking needs to really get about solving

所以伟大的思想都需要

pretty key problems.

实际地解决关键问题。

I really thank you for your time.

真的感谢你们的时间。

(Applause)

（掌声）