Shell Chair Colors

The majority of black shells do tend to appear with upholstery with naked fiber versions found much less.

Short lived shell color, despite the name is not as bright as the YE yellow version of the late 60s and 70s.

Only available a short period, Cobalt blue was bright and cheerful, a bridge between the darker and light blues.

This color is always mistaken as being Kelly Green which was actually darker, very similar to the Green of the current fiber colors.

A true red, Crimson was the only actual red shade ever released.

This was near black, an aubergine color, used always on upholstered shells of the 70s and 80s.

One of the 'original six' and always a highly desirable color, EG never tend to fade and the color remains always strong.

First Generation

One of the ‘original six’ greige was the cross grey and beige lighter choice of shell.

First Generation

Rare and contemporary, light grey remains much of an enigma.

Most chairs advertised as Kelly Green are actually later Cadmium Green. Darker but with a nice mis green texture, KG is always a favorite color.

Very rare shell color and found mainly on upholstered options during the late 60s.

Also known as Robins Egg, light blue remains elusive and very highly desired color.

A rare color, the light greige is often mistaken for parchment.

Used in the 70s and 80s only for upholstered shells.

Initially a contract colour, by 1967 had actually replaced the original Sea Foam Green as the only foam option.

* 1st Generation Rope Edge Versions have higher rarity and desirability, Lemon yellow often faded because of the dye and get mistaken as Parchment.

First Generation

Early colour, had a lighter mid-range blue than the Navy option, highly desirable.

Lighter than the Elephant Hide Grey, the medium option is very popular.

In first wave of new colors at the end of the 50s, Navy Blue is highly desirable.

Commonly found color and still contemporary today, Ochre Light remains popular.

Much harder to find than Ochre Light, the dark yellow tones make this one quite unique.

Often wrongly referred to as ‘Forest Green’ Olive is the only dark green option.

Only a contract color, pink was scarcely made and rarely found.

Parchment shades vary so much over the years. It literally mean ‘off white’ but over the years many have yellowed with age yet you can also still find them quite white. The new HM shells of today are still Parchment and literally a shade off white.

Red Orange is a mainstay color from start to finish. The early shells, 1st generation and through the 50s suffered with fading so much that many appear as ‘salmon’.

First Generation

Fiber Raw Umber shells are seldom found but later versions used with upholstery are found more regularly.

The deep chocolate brown color is found fairly regularly and always retains a good color depth.

Sea Foam green remains one of the most coveted and desired colors of Eames shells.

First Generation

As the name suggested, it was a more brick/clay orange than the brighter red orange version.

* This color is essentially light brown, often mistook for the seal Brown which is darker.

Extremely rare color to find. The color sold in such low numbers it has become a real enigma to the collector.

Very highly desired light brown color which remains very contemporary.

The main blue colour since the late 60s, replaced the navy and medium blue by being a shade in between the two.

This color has a clear shade darker than the more ‘canary’ yellow of the YE shell available at the same time.

Often called Canary Yellow, the shade was actually simply called Yellow and the color remained till the end.

Found generally with upholstered options, this color was not widely used at all.

As a custom contract color there were likely very few production runs at all, the result is a very rare color and highly desired collector piece.

Custom contract color with a clear ‘sea blue’ tone like none of the blue book colors.

A combination of the pink/purple tones, the Magenta shells are custom contract color that is very scarce.

An entirely different green to the book colors, Lime is very bright with yellow/green hue, rare and desirable.

Not to be mixed up with the faded Red Orange shells which give a Salmon hue, this contract shell was made to have the pink/red finish.