Eames Shell Chairs, Alexander Girard fabric. Herman Miller 1960.
View Similar Items
Eames Shell Chairs, Alexander Girard fabric. Herman Miller 1960.
About the Item
- Creator:Alexander Girard (Designer),Charles and Ray Eames (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 31 in (78.74 cm)Width: 25 in (63.5 cm)Depth: 24.5 in (62.23 cm)Seat Height: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 6
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:Good original condition. Could benefit from cleaning.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: U1209109060316
Alexander Girard
The director of design for the textiles department at Herman Miller, Inc., from 1952 to 1973, mid-century modern visionary Alexander Girard introduced bright, bouncy colors to upholstery and drapery fabrics, created jaunty graphics for marketing and advertising materials and devised motifs for everything from textiles to ceramics based on his true love: folk art from cultures around the globe.
The son of an American mother and an Italian father, Girard (known as Sandro to his friends) was born in New York City in 1907 but raised in Florence. He came from a creative family — his father was a master woodworker — and Girard began drawing and making his own playthings as a youngster. He had a fascination for nativity crèche tableaux, an enthusiasm that likely was the germ for his later interest in folk art. He went on to earn degrees in architecture at schools in both Rome and London before returning to New York in the 1930s and working in interior design.
By the 1940s, he and his wife, Susan, had moved to Detroit, where Girard was head of design for Detrola, a firm specializing in tabletop radios. The elegant bentwood housings that he developed for the devices won him acclaim, but, more importantly, at Detrola he met Charles Eames. The two became lifelong friends, and it was Eames who drew Girard toward Herman Miller, which had no dedicated textile department until Girard arrived, and most of its furniture was upholstered in mundane, “safe” hues. Girard changed all that, introducing fabrics in vivid shades of red, orange, yellow and blue. His early designs incorporated geometric motifs — stripes, circles, square, triangles and such. But toward the end of the 1950s he began to introduce folk art themes into his designs.
Girard did not collect important or expensive folk pieces. Rather he was drawn to simple objects such as handmade toys, figurines and models of animals, buildings and plants. The fabrics that emerged had whimsical, lighthearted motifs depicting, for example, angels, children, birds and flowers. Toward the end of his term with Herman Miller, in an effort to achieve what he termed “aesthetic functionalism,” Girard produced a group of what he called “Environmental Enrichment” pieces — silk-screened cotton panels emblazoned with various graphic designs, from bold geometric patterns to folk art themes. They were meant to divide spaces in offices or the home in lieu of walls while simultaneously functioning as art. Today, panels of vintage Girard upholstery textiles have become premium collectibles. The designer's furniture is less well known, primarily because most of it was created for private commissions.
Girard’s most lasting contribution may be his folk art collection. He and Susan had begun gathering pieces shortly after their marriage, in 1936. By the 1970s, they had amassed the world’s largest collection of cross-cultural folk art, composed of more than 100,000 pieces from around the world. The Girards donated their holdings to the Museum of International Folk Art, in Santa Fe (where they had moved in the ’60s), quintupling the institution’s collection, and a new wing — named for the Girards — had to be built to hold it.
Find a striking range of vintage Alexander Girard seating, tables, textiles and other furnishings on 1stDibs.
Charles and Ray Eames
Charles Eames and Ray Eames were the embodiment of the inventiveness, energy and optimism at the heart of mid-century modern American design, and have been recognized as the most influential designers of the 20th century.
As furniture designers, filmmakers, artists, textile and graphic designers and even toy and puzzle makers, the Eameses were a visionary and effective force for the notion that design should be an agent of positive change. They are the happy, ever-curious, ever-adventurous faces of modernism.
Charles (1907–78) studied architecture and industrial design. Ray (née Beatrice Alexandra Kaiser, 1912–88) was an artist, who studied under the Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit (the legendary institution where Charles also met his frequent collaborator Eero Saarinen and the artist and designer Harry Bertoia) and married the next year.
His technical skills and her artistic flair were wonderfully complementary. They moved to Los Angeles in 1941, where Charles worked on set design for MGM. In the evenings at their apartment, they experimented with molded plywood using a handmade heat-and-pressurization device they called the “Kazam!” machine. The next year, they won a contract from the U.S. Navy for lightweight plywood leg splints for wounded servicemen — they are coveted collectibles today; more so those that Ray used to make sculptures.
The Navy contract allowed Charles to open a professional studio, and the attention-grabbing plywood furniture the firm produced prompted George Nelson, the director of design of the furniture-maker Herman Miller Inc., to enlist Charles and (by association, if not by contract) Ray in 1946. Some of the first Eames items to emerge from Herman Miller are now classics: the LCW, or Lounge Chair Wood, and the DCM, or Dining Chair Metal, supported by tubular steel.
The Eameses eagerly embraced new technology and materials, and one of their peculiar talents was to imbue their supremely modern design with references to folk traditions. Their Wire chair group of the 1950s, for example, was inspired by basket weaving techniques. The populist notion of “good design for all” drove their molded fiberglass chair series that same decade, and also produced the organic-form, ever-delightful La Chaise. In 1956 the Eames lounge chair and ottoman appeared — the supremely comfortable plywood-base-and-leather-upholstery creation that will likely live in homes as long as there are people with good taste and sense.
Charles Eames once said, “The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” For very good collectors and thoughtful interior designers, a piece of design by the Eameses, the closer produced to original conception the better, is almost de rigueur — for its beauty and comfort, and not least as a tribute to the creative legacy and enduring influence of Charles and Ray Eames.
The collection of original Eames furniture on 1stDibs includes chairs, tables, case pieces and other items.
- Ray Charles Eames Herman Miller Padded Arm Shell Chairs Alexander Girard a PairBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller, Alexander GirardLocated in Forest Grove, PAA pair of fiberglass arm shell chair designed by Ray & Charles Eames and produced by Herman Miller in 1972. The white shells contrast nicely with cerulean blue seats and royal blue p...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Eames for Herman Miller Yellow Shell ChairsBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Brooklyn, NYOriginal 1960s molded fiberglass shell chairs in yellow, designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. Gleaming shells are in original condition, each with a distinct thready ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsFiberglass
$750 / item - Terracotta Eames for Herman Miller Vintage 1960s Fiberglass Shell ChairsBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Brooklyn, NYMultiple Available. Original Molded Fiberglass Shell Chair, designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. Vintage shell chairs are prized for their attractive patina, distinct thread texture and beautiful depth of color seen in the fiberglass material. Shell is stamped with the Herman Miller emblem underneath. Dated to the 1970s. OAM boasts one of the largest collections of vintage Eames fiberglass shell...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsFiberglass
- Original Eames Fiberglass Shell Chairs by Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Brooklyn, NYVintage 1960s molded fiberglass side shell chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. Gleaming shells are in original condition, each with a distinct thready texture...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsFiberglass
- Charles Eames for Herman Miller DSX Shell ChairBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller, Charles Eames, Ray EamesLocated in Garnerville, NYCharles Eames for Herman Miller fiberglass DSX shell chair. Circa 1970. Retains all it's plastic glides. Shock mounts are in good condition with no visible drying or cracking. Struct...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsMetal, Steel
$516 Sale Price20% Off - Brilliant Yellow Eames for Herman Miller Vintage 1960s Fiberglass Shell ChairsBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Brooklyn, NYMultiple Available. Original Molded Fiberglass Shell Chair, designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. Vintage shell chairs are prized for their attractive patina, distinct thread texture and beautiful depth of color seen in the fiberglass material. Shell is stamped with the Herman Miller emblem underneath. Dated to the 1970s. OAM boasts one of the largest collections of vintage Eames fiberglass shell...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsFiberglass
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
A Guide to Herman Miller’s Most Iconic Furniture
The prolific manufacturer has partnered with many of the world’s top designers since opening its doors in 1923. Here are some of the company’s greatest hits, which helped transform the American home and office.