Education
Opportunity to Learn is Everywhere
Design as a way of learning.
Charles and Ray were as passionate educators as they were designers. Whether lecturing in university halls, giving curious students a tour of the Eames House, or creating a film or exhibition, they wanted to equip others with a way of seeing the world and approaching the problems around them.
Today, education remains core to the Foundation’s mission of preserving and expanding the legacy of Charles and Ray Eames.
"We work because it’s a chain reaction; each subject leads to the next."
– Charles EamesEducation and research go hand-in-hand. Learn more about the spirit that drives the research supported by the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, where new ideas take shape through inquiry, experimentation, and collaboration.
Education Programs
The Charles & Ray Eames Foundation supports educational initiatives that carry forward the Eameses’ belief in learning through curiosity, creativity, and hands-on exploration. Through partnerships and programs, the Foundation works to make design education more accessible and inspiring for all learners.
As part of this work, the Foundation has recently partnered with Architecture for Communities Los Angeles (ACLA), a nonprofit organization founded by the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles, to host workshops and create curriculum centered on the Eameses’ design philosophies.
Norton Lectures
In extending some of the Eameses’ own educational work, in 2026, the Foundation will publish—for the first time—Charles Eames’s Norton Lectures at Harvard University.
Appointed the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry in 1970—a position traditionally reserved for leading voices in literature, music, or the fine arts—Charles used his lectures to explore “Problems Relating to Visual Communication and the Visual Environment.” Over six evenings, he captivated audiences with an Eamesian blend of film, photography, and insight, illuminating the ideas that shaped his and Ray’s approach to design and to life.
Now, more than fifty years later, these lectures will be available to the public for the first time, offering a rare window into Charles’s mind at work and the continued relevance of the Eameses’ approach to education.
Eames in India
Globally, the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation highlights the couple’s impact on design education through the lens of the Eames India Report. In 1958, at the invitation of Prime Minister Nehru, Charles and Ray spent three months in India studying design challenges and offering recommendations for education. Their landmark report emphasized the value of India’s indigenous design and craftsmanship, combined with modern methods, to address contemporary needs. Guided by these recommendations, the Indian government established the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, which remains one of the world’s leading design schools today.
