Alexander Girard was a designer who did everything. Everything.

Born in New York, Raised in Florence, he went to Architecture school in London, exiting right around the time of the depression. And so, with limited options for work, he began do a wide range of design and decor jobs that were architecture adjacent. And he learned to make the most of this cobbled together, formative period of his career. He worked much in the same style as Ray and Charles Eames or Geoff McFettridge as I mentioned in a previousd post, as a designer; meaning a person who could design just about anything. To apply their own style and problem solving to any job and any media they liked or a client asked. A stylist unafraid to work on universal scale. Textiles, Patterns, Icons, Type, Furniture, Buildings and spaces… on and on.

I have no favorite material. Anything can be used to create beauty if handled well.

…become specialized in being unspecialized.

And it was with this attitude that design and his work could apply to anything, a chair, a wooden doll, a rug, a brochure; that he thrived.

The Miller House was designed by architect Eero Saarinen in Columbus ohio in 1953. Girard designed and styled the whole interior, from furniture to textiles to ornaments. He designed a rug with iconography reflecting members of the family, their interests and history. And suggested the inclusion of the central ‘Conversation Pit’. All of this, so ahead of its time and with so much care and detail, augmenting the design of the building.

La Fonda del Sol was a restaurant in New York City’s met life building that opened in 1960 that he similarly designed all aspects of. It had furniture also from Eames. It must have been really amazing to visit.

MORE THINGS:

Compound Restaurant in Santa Fe New Mexico

Compound Restaurant- How Alexander Girard Mastered Both Color and a Night on the Town - Architectural Digest

Design is in the Details — PBS Newshour

Palm Springs Museum - on view through 1st March 2020

Compound Restaurant- How Alexander Girard Mastered Both Color and a Night on the Town - Architectural Digest

La Fonda Del Sol

Alexander Girard became director of design for Herman Miller’s textile division in 1952, a time when fabrics, especially in the office, tended toward the utilitarian, drab and pattern-less. “People got fainting fits if they saw bright, pure color,” Girard commented at the time. He employed primary colors, geometric patterns, and a touch of humor in creating memorable textile, wallpaper, and furniture designs. Production Company: Dress Code (dresscodeny.com) Director: James Casey Executive Creative Director: Dan Covert Executive Producer: Brad Edelstein Head of Post Production & Operations: Tara Rose Stromberg Head of Production: Amy Dempsey Assistant Producer: Mayele Yebo Cinematography: Sebastian Slayter 1st Assistant Camera: Cameron Sizemore Gaffer: Bret "Dutch" Beimers 2nd Assistant Editor: Nick Stromberg Script: James Casey Art Director: Elena Chudoba Colorist: Daniel Orentlicher Production Coordinator: Jonathan Dontchev Editorial: No6 Editor: James Duffy Assistant Editor: Ryan Hennessy Senior Producer: Laura Molinaro Music + Sound: YouTooCanWoo Voiceover: Debra Kay Anderson Cast: Amy Auscherman Special Thanks to: AIGA, Braniff Airlines, Braniff International, Girard Studio, Herman Miller Read the WHY article on Alexander Girard: https://www.hermanmiller.com/stories/why-magazine/mid-century-master-alexander-girard-wins-2019-aiga-medal/

Short documentary from DressCode.