Joe Gebbia and the Eames Institute, part two

The plot thickens in Eames World.

In last week’s newsletter, I suggested that the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, a sort of Northern California spinoff (or dissident independent faction, depending on your point of view) of the OG L.A.-based Charles & Ray Eames Foundation and Eames Office, is facing what I called “a Joe Gebbia problem.” Gebbia, the Elon Musk friend and Donald Trump appointee who often expresses hard-right views on X, amplifying the likes of Alex Jones and the John Birch Society, has been widely identified in news reports as the Institute’s founding funder.

Almost immediately, I started hearing from friends, colleagues, students, designers, architects, and others, many of them based in the Bay Area or Los Angeles. Their comments, which came via Instagram, phone, text, and email, might be summarized as follows: