Ray Eames Working on a Prototype Outside Her California Home, 1951

Some Saturday fun from the inimitable designer Ray Eames, pictured here playing with a prototype of The Toy, a hexagonal tube sculpture dreamed up by Eames and her husband Charles. The pair believed that play objects were of essential value whatever your age, famously declaring that “toys are not really as innocent as they look. Toys and games are the prelude to serious ideas.” And indeed, the instruction sheet for The Toy detailed how people at every stage of life could enjoy it, be it as a play tunnel for small children or a festival prop for adults.