Alexander Girard became Herman Miller's director of design for its textile division in 1952, a time when fabrics were purely functional and no fun at all--dull, drab, without pattern. "People got fainting fits if they saw bright, pure color," Girard said.
But he felt that color was just what fabrics needed, and Herman Miller gave him the freedom to express himself. With primary colors, concise geometric patterns, and a touch of humor, he injected joy and spontaneity into fabrics, making them a vibrant part of homes and offices. His designs perfectly complemented the progressive Herman Miller furniture designed by his friends, Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson.
Girard's work with Herman Miller continued into the 1970s, when he spiced up the Action Office system with a series of decorative panel fabrics.
Girard's risky, sometimes iconoclastic fabrics were inspired not by a vision of the future but by a love of traditional folk art. Avid collectors, he and his wife, Susan, surrounded themselves with pieces from over 100 countries. These colorful, whimsical objects inspired him and provided a framework for his designs.
The Girards' collection was so large--over 100,000 pieces--that in 1962, they established the Girard Foundation in Sante Fe to manage it. In 1978, the Girard Foundation donated the objects to the Sante Fe Museum of International Folk Art, where they remain the core of the world's most important collection of cross-cultural folk art.
Born in New York City and raised in Florence, Girard was educated in Europe as an architect. He began practicing architecture and interior design in the late 1920s. A career breakthrough came in 1949, when he designed the Detroit Institute of Art's "For Modern Living," a significant exhibition promoting postwar modernism. In 1954, he designed the "Good Designs" exhibition for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Girard's reputation soared in 1959, when his zestful interior design of the La Fonda del Sol restaurant in New York electrified the public. And remember those colorful Braniff airplane designs of the mid-1960s? They were Girard's.
In describing his work, Girard coined the term "aesthetic functionalism," which he maintained is "imperative in any surrounding where the average individual is to live." We are not simply machines that sleep, eat, and drink, he said. We see, touch, and remember--activites that "are of far greater importance and in far greater need of consideration than our purely practical functions in life."
Girard spent his entire career bringing this philosophy to life and opening the door to more beauty, fun, and sensuality in our world. |
Herman Miller Designs
Environmental Enrichment Panels, Action Office system
Girard Group, Contemporary Furniture Collection
Herman Miller Textile and Wallpaper Collection
Awards/Recognition
Fabric Competition, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1946
St. Louis Memorial Competition, 1948
Trail Blazer Award, Home Fashion League of New York, for the Herman Miller Textile Collection, 1952
Silver Medal, Architectural League of New York, for La Fonda del Sol restaurant, 1962
Elsie de Wolfe Award, American Institute of Interior Designers, New York Chapter, 1966
Governor's Award, New Mexico, for contribution to the arts, 1981
Designers West/Ray Bradbury Creativity Award, first recipient, 1987
Gold Medal, Barcelona Exhibition, 1929
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