Eames Vitra dsw chair

From the molded plastic fiberglass series, the abbreviated Eames DSW chair stands for Dining (D) height, Side (S) chair, on Wood (W) base. Today it stands as one of the most recognizable furniture designs of modern times. The alternative PSW was for the Pivoting (P) variant.

The DSW has become one of the most desirable base types produced for the chair series, perhaps largely due to its attractive visual appearance that honed towards the home market as opposed to some which had more commercial applications. It wasn’t however always that way! The base of the Eames DSW Side Chair was actually beset with problems and the design was abandoned even before the middle of the 1950’s. Due to the weight pressure travelling through wood (as opposed to metal) legs would splinter, or worse, crack and break. The number of returns was simply unacceptable and Herman Miller consigned the dowel leg base to archive!

The DSW was one of the original bases of the plastic side chairs and was released as an option alongside the Eiffel DSR and the X-Base (DSX) four legged side eames chair.