Charles Eames, born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri, studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and worked with partners as an architect of residential buildings and churches. Eliel Saarinen noticed him and in 1938 offered Charles a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. In 1940, together with Eero Saarinen, he won first prize in the “Industrial Design Competition for the 21 American Republics,” also known as “Organic Design in Home Furnishings,” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and became head of the department in Industrial Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.