In the 1940s, Charles and Ray Eames spent several
years developing and refining a technique for the three-dimensional molding of
plywood, creating a series of furniture items and sculptures in the process.
Among these initial designs, the two part elephant proved to be the most
technically challenging due to its tight compound curves, and the piece never
went into serial production. A prototype was given to Charles's 14-year-old
daughter Lucia Eames and later borrowed for the exhibition at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York in 1946. It still survives in the Eames family archives
today.