Design, Products
January 9, 2012
By Cerentha Harris
Vintage Ad Browser is the work of Philipp Lenssen – a German living in China. He has obsessively collected over 100,000 ads, mostly from America, that cover everything from furniture to typewriters.
The nice thing about this site is you can search by name or type (or even color). The not so great thing is the lack of info on each ad. The image above is tagged ”Alcoa Aluminum Unit Girard Design Charles Eames (1957)”. It reminds me of the Eames living room and also the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana. And it’s just one of an amazing array of vintage images to inspire you.
Balance, Design, Products
November 22, 2011
By Amy Feezor
The sunset at 4.20 today on the West Coast! It’s time for some color in the home office to help ward off the winter blues. Here’s 5 ways to bring the quatrefoil indoors.
1. The Quatrefoil Pink Pillow by Maharam, $150.00 Perk up the place with this cushion by noted colorist and textile designer Alexander Girard, who helped build the Herman Miller Textile Division beginning in 1952. Get it: Velocity Art and Design
2. SomerTile Porcelain Mosaic Tile, $88.99 for a pack of 10 This lantern-white tile can be used indoors or out. Get it: Overstock.com
3. Fallon Rug, starting at $73.00 Designer Jill Rosenwald’s simple, geometric pattern is available in six sizes and thirteen color combinations. Get it: jillrosenwald.com
4. 2012 Weekly Planner 2012, approximately $41.63 Keep your whole year organized in this old-school paper planner. (Bonus: it contains a world map and an address registry.) Get it: Nauli
5. Quatrefoil Blank Notecard, $3.50 Say thank you (or just hello) to a favorite client using a memorable card like this one printed on ivory cardstock from a hand-carved linocut. Get it: Cursive Arts
Balance, Design, Products
February 11, 2010
By Cerentha Harris
“We followed Alexander Girard where he led us because we knew he had impeccable taste and incredible astuteness about space, color and pattern. He provided…emotional attachment.” That was DJ De Pree, Herman Miller’s founder. His relationship with Girard began in 1952 when the designer was hired to head the fabric and textile division. Over the next 20 years Girard’s work with Herman Miller brought him together with designers like the Eameses and George Nelson. His colorful textiles incorporated geometric patterns and folk art-inspired images that gave life and vibrancy to the company’s furniture designs.
It seems fitting with Valentine’s Day fast approaching to take a look at his “Love Heart” (1972) and the “International Heart”(1967) Girard, who grew up in Florence, Italy, said “the whole world must know about itself…The colors vary, their languages vary, but their spirits and aspirations are interwoven into one incredible rich humanity.” The ‘International Heart’ with the word love in 16 languages certainly speaks to that sentiment. In the 1967 Herman Miller catalog the “International Heart” is referred to as “Love Heart” and “A tribute of Love and Friendship to your wife, sweetheart, or customer.” A nice broad sweep there! The price? $2.25 for a 15 1/2 inch square.
While, for me, the singular “Love Heart” is a testament to Girard’s extraordinary skill as a designer. He has taken a simple graphic, boldly red heart and graphically imposed the word love inside it.
And to finish here are some inspiring words from Girard: “The hope for good design lies in those designers who believe in what they do, and who will only do what they believe … contrary to hearsay, it is possible to make a living that way.” I think that rings true for all of us.
