“It is a beautiful and remarkable piece, and so right for this collection,” reads a note in the object file for a leg splint by Charles and Ray Eames. Design has always been at the heart of RISD. After all, it’s design as opposed to art that’s in the name of the institution. It’s no surprise then that examples of good design have found their way into the museum’s collection. The Eames leg splint is a prime example of how design can support us even in the most trying and terrible of times, in this case in the midst of suffering a war-related injury.

Charles and Ray Eames first began experimenting with molded plywood in the 1940 with the goal of producing low-cost, high-quality furniture. After considerable trial and error, they became the first to successfully mold the material in more than one direction, allowing for shapes that conformed to the body. Before applying this new technique to furniture design, the Eameses were called upon for a different challenge: creating a new leg splint for the US Navy, whose metal splints were proving ineffective. Their initial commission was for 5,000 splints, but by the end of World War II more than 150,000 had been produced. Their softly rounded splint forms cradled injured legs like their molded plywood chair designs would later cradle bodies at work and rest. Remarkable, indeed.