Publication Date: Friday, May 20, 2005
Sitting pretty
Sitting pretty
(May 20, 2005) Retired professor ventures into furniture business
by Susan Golovin
M echanical engineering professor Robert Eustis didn't rest on his laurels, when he retired from Stanford University in 1990 at age 70, after what he describes as a "very fulfilling 35 years of teaching." Instead he decided to develop a stronger chair.
"When I retired I decided not to sit around. ... I knew that I wanted to work with wood, and I decided to start a company so that I wasn't just playing at it," he said.
Eustis focused his design on creating strength without sacrificing the beauty of the wood. "I knew that I would need to make the joints stronger because that's where the load is," he said. He eventually patented a steel-rod joint that is hidden inside the z-shaped wooden legs. The result is a comfortable chair with "give" that is capable of supporting 400 pounds.
Six feet tall, with blue eyes and a shock of white hair, casually dressed in a navy pullover and Topsiders, Eustis looks every bit the kindly, modest Midwesterner that he is. His chairs in many ways reflect their creator: They resemble Danish modern furniture (no accident, he said, since he's half Danish) and the design is extremely practical, simple and intelligently engineered.
Stanford was among Eustis' first customers, purchasing the sturdy chairs for its faculty club. UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University, University of Oregon and various city libraries followed in short order.
This really was a complete career change for Eustis, who was born and raised in Minneapolis. "I had one of those old fashioned, ideal childhoods," he said. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1942, joined the Air Force during the war and did research on aircraft engines. He then proceeded to MIT where he earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering and joined the faculty as an assistant professor.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to work at a start up, Eustis and his young family moved to Philadelphia where he assumed the position of chief engineer at Thermal Research and Engineering Corporation. After a couple of years, he and his first wife, Kay, decided to relocate.
"We asked ourselves where we would like to live when we retire," Eustis said. Apparently Eustis planned ahead from an early age.
Eustis accepted a job at SRI and was also employed part time at Stanford, teaching thermodynamics. By 1955 he was a full-time faculty member and father of a son and daughter. It proved to be a good move, both professionally and socially. "We joined the First Congregational Church and made friendships there and at Stanford and SRI that have lasted 50 years," he said.
Eustis designed his Stanford home 40 years ago. "We had to fit the house between the oaks," he said. "I took the floor plan to a drafting company and they made the doors the right size and things like that." The large picture windows in the living room frame Hoover Tower in the distance. And of course, the décor includes various examples of his chairs.
"When you teach at Stanford, you really love the place," he said. He demonstrated that love in 2000 by donating the patent for the Eustis Joint as well as his entire shareholdings in Eustis Designs to Stanford. Independently, Stanford then licensed the patent to Eustis Enterprises in Massachusetts -- a company that the professor, with research, realized is run by his newly discovered eighth cousins. "We both make chairs," he said with a twinkle.
Now, in his home/garage workshop, Eustis designs and creates the prototype chairs (using the Eustis Joint) for his second company, Menlo Furniture Designs, Inc. (www.menlodesigns.com). "I don't have fancy equipment," he said, pointing to his power disc sander, drill press, board saw, oscillating belt and the like. Racks of tools hang on peg boards and cabinets line the walls.
He shares the garage with the 1958 Bentley he restored with his best friend, Joe Willits, a fellow mechanical engineer. Eustis and his wife Kay, along with Joe and his wife Phyllis, picked out the car when they went to England during the 1972 Olympics, and used it to tour before shipping it home. The car, which was owned by the Willits', has now come full circle: Joe and Kay died within months of each other in 2003. Phyllis brought the car with her when she married Eustis.
"Phyllis is an amazing woman who can do anything," Eustis said. She is currently vice president of his company. A long-time friend, and designer, Jerrine Barrett, picks the fabrics for the chairs.
Typical of his nature, 85-year-old Eustis is thinking of what might some day be his next venture. He has a patent for aging wine, based on an engineering principal.
"Aging occurs due to oxygen transfer through the walls of the oak barrel," he said. "A chemical reaction occurs with the wine at the wine barrel interface. If you increase the amount of interface area relative to the volume of wine in the container, the aging process occurs more rapidly."
In his spare time, Eustis gardens -- as his lush property attests. He also thoroughly enjoys visits from his 11-year-old grandson. A wooden boxcar powered by an electric motor is parked next to the Bentley. It is a project that the two of them worked on together.
"Lovely machine," Eustis said, admiring the digital camera the photographer used as he snapped away during the interview.
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