Eames House Bird

I've seen this iconic element of décor for the very first time while watching "How I met your mother" TV series. As I was binging season after season to take some rest from my massive renovation project in Kiev in 2013, I've noticed a particularly interesting bird statue on the fireplace in their living room. I googled it, and that's how I met Eames house bird, sometimes also known as Vitra house bird.

To be precise, I've met the real thing only once, in about 8 years after that, just before boarding a low-cost flight from either Keflavik (Iceland) or Arlanda (Sweden) airport. There was a Vitra store in the duty free zone which had Eames house bird on display. I looked at the price tag of 200 euros and sighed heavily. It was several times my airfare. But this year I finally got my own replica from China for $20 and I'm absolutely happy about it.

A bit on history, in 1940s Charles and Ray Eames, a husband-and-wife design team were inspired by a wooden bird sculpture they found on a trip to the Appalachian Mountains. Using their expertise in molded plywood, they crafted a replica of the bird which is now an iconic symbol of mid-century modern design and one of my most favorite décor pieces.

Its shape is such a feast to my eyes. I believe it's closely related to the golden ratio, that's why I find it so extremely pleasant to look at. The copy is made of resin, unlike the wooden original, but the outline is the same. If you're going with the colored version, and they are available in nearly every color imaginable, there's probably not much point in chasing after the original Vitra piece. After all, Charles and Ray Eames did copy it themselves from an unknown Native American artist.

Just for fun, there's also an extremely obese version which you can print yourself with a 3D printer.

And yes, I do notice décor items as I'm watching movies. Once there was a fight between a synth human and alien assassin filmed in an apartment which I found very stylish. So I had to watch it several times, and pause, and I found all that fighting really annoying since it wouldn't let me see the design properly. But that's a different story for another day.