The Eameses had a lot of friends from diverse backgrounds. One such friend was Corita Kent, a talented artist and nun who ran the art department at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles.
In 1954, Kent read an article about the Eameses in Arts and Architecture magazine. She subsequently wrote a letter to the Eameses, inviting them to visit her school, which they did; at the time they were living in nearby Pacific Palisades. The three of them hit it off, and Kent and her students were subsequently invited to visit the Eames studio and home. A friendship was born, and the Eameses came to admire Kent’s calligraphy work.
In 1956, as they prepared to launch the Eames Lounge Chair with Herman Miller, they had Eames Office staffer Charles Kratka produce an exploded-view drawing of the chair; they wanted the public to be able to understand the chair’s design details, and they also wanted to showcase Herman Miller’s modern engineering prowess. The Eameses hired none other than Kent, with her distinctive handwriting, to do the lettering.
Today the drawing no longer comes with the chair. You can, however, purchase an 11×14 print of it from the Eames Office website for $15.
Corita Kent’s story is quite interesting, by the way. A nun since age 18, she ended up leaving the religious order in 1968, at the age of 50; her art had grown more progressive and addressed social issues, which brought her into conflict with the church. She moved to Boston and embarked on a career as a pop artist; perhaps her most famous work was the Love postage stamp she designed for the USPS in 1985.
You can learn more about Kent and the Corita Art Center, opened in 2000 to commemorate her work, here.