Between 1950 and 1952, Charles and Ray Eames began investigating bent steel wire and various welding techniques as a basis for a new kind of furniture. After much experimentation, they molded a wire shell seat using cross-woven steel wires and mounted it on a bent-wire base.To get the increased strength and organic form they were seeking (as well as cost savings in production), the Eames Office made the rim of the chair a lighter-gauge wire and doubled it for better welding. Thus, the DKR chair - Dinning Height K-Wire Shell R-Wire base - came to be. The sculptured look of the DKR wire chair made it an instant classic and the innovative design won Charles and Ray the first ever American mechanical patent for design. Chairs were sold three ways: unpadded, with a seat-only pad (the dot) or the brilliantly designed, two-piece seat pad nicknamed the bikini. The bikini chair consists of a seat bottom and back pad that ties in the middle and securely fits the body of the chair (hence, The Bikini Pad).