Soft Pad High Back Chairs

(Image courtesy of D Rose Modern)

Released as part of the Alu Group in 1969, the Eames High Back Soft Pad Alu Chair was designed to be a top of the range executive option with full tilting and height adjustment as standard and available in either castors or floor glides. Primarily meant for the workplace, the High Back Soft Pad chair was initially released only in Black Leather and is one of the most recognizable chair designs of the last century.

On its introduction to the market, the High Back Soft Pad Alu eames chair had two available options, one on castors (EA220) and one instead with nylon floor glides (EA219) but both were fully loaded with all the mechanical tilting and adjusting one could require in the office. The super comfortable chair was also fitted with arms as standard and was very much the pinnacle of the Soft Pad range.

The first releases were only in Black Leather but as the 1970's moved on more colors of leather and fabric upholstery were introduced. There was some dimension tweaks too in the 70's before an entire change of base shape in 1985.

The Eames Soft Pad range mirrored that of the already existing 'ribbed' Alu Group chairs and the High Back was available alongside Low Back options as well as a Lounge Chair and a Recliner and Ottoman.

Ever since its 1969 release the Eames High Back Soft Pad Alu Chair has been in continuous production and is a popular today as the day it was made. It has also been the source of great inspiration for chair and office chair design over the years.

• All Eames Soft Pad High Back Chairs will have original labels or stamps to help with authenticating them. Early examples will be found with pressings into the metal of the frame. These pressings were impressions of patent numbers attributed to the Alu Group and these early markings are the best authenticating mark you can get. Herman Miller then began to use adhesive labels in the form of company logo and bar codes and Alu Group model number labels. Dates too are often found printed onto the torsion bar. Into the 2000's and the adhesive labels remain but with an additional cloth label sewn into the underside of the chair.
• The High Back Soft Pad, and its Low Back sister chair, are two of the most copied examples of Eames Designs. Reproductions emanating from the Far East have swamped the market in the last 15 years. It is testament to the enduring popularity of the pieces but it makes life a little more difficult when it comes to ensuring you have the real deal. The copies rarely use the 4-star bases and tend to copy the newer 5-star legs. They also favor cheaper Chrome as opposed to the Brushed Aluminum of the original Herman Miller chair.  Despite the quality of some of the copies being quite ok, many are quite poor. You may find leather fronts but PU used on the rear and underside and extremely poor thin Chrome plating. You may also find hex head screws as opposed to cross screw heat bolts in some.
• It is worth pointing out that manufacturers don't set out to pass off their copies as original chairs but are merely attempting to supply chairs in the style of the original. That said, as more and more of them enter the secondary market it is important to look for the signs that some may attempt to sell them as originals, even attaching labels in some cases.
• Many copies utilize pneumatic lift paddles that are not the correct same type as those used by Herman Miller. Bare in mind too that HM didn't begin to use them until 2015 and many of the copies pre-date it. Also you can look for interlocking stitching on the pads and ensure there is age related tarnish to the metal work of the base.

• The Soft Pad High Back Chairs tend to follow the logical process of 'the older they are the more valuable they tend to be'. This is mostly true when it comes to the Leather versions. The chairs were originally released only in Black Leather and these first generation versions tend to be the most desirable from a collectors and investors point of view. Other leather colors followed of course and they will always command a higher secondary market value than fabric. It goes without saying of course that these older earlier generation chairs are much rarer too that those of the 80's on that found a huge workplace market and were therefore produced in much greater numbers.
• Condition is always an important factor in any collectors or vintage market, whatever the object of ones attention tends to be. With the high Back Soft Chair it is always advisable to have a really good look around the chair. The places to look are the corners of the seat pads which can get crushed and squashed and the edges where leather can get scraped and worn to the under layer. All of these not only affect the look of the piece but the overall value too. The most important place to check is the seat and back underneath the pads themselves. Like the Ribbed Alu Group Chairs, sagging or damage in these areas is especially difficult to fix because the material is machine stretched between the parts. It may even be advisable not to buy chairs in such condition as they will be very difficult and very expensive to fix.
• Should wear or sagging occur to the seat pads however then these can be fixed, which is something the series can offer that the original Alu Group chairs cannot. Any reasonable upholsterer should be able to open the seat pads and refresh the foam inside to fill them out again if they are broken down. Leather treatments too can be used to bring minor cracking or wear back to a better condition although the use of a professional is always advisable. Just always bare in mind that such work always costs.
• Unlike the Low Back chairs, the High Back Soft Pad was only released in the 'executive' variant with full tilting mechanism and with arms. They used manual height adjustment until 2015. Always check that the tilting mechanism is in good working order and the the height adjuster has not seized into place.