The Eames chair was designed using technology for molding plywood and plastic that the Eames developed before and during The Second World War. Eames Chairs Before American involvement in the war, Charles Eames and his friend, architect Eero Saarinen, entered a furniture group into the Museum of Modern Art's "Organic Furniture Competition" in 1940, a contest exploring the natural evolution of furniture in response to the rapidly changing world. Eames & Saarinen won the competition. However, production of the chairs entered was postponed due to production difficulties, and then by the United States entry into WWII. Saarinen left the project due to frustration with production.