Rare Alexander Girard Herman Miller Fabric Swatches
View Similar Items
Rare Alexander Girard Herman Miller Fabric Swatches
About the Item
- Creator:Alexander Girard (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)Width: 22 in (55.88 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:PVC
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1960's
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Phoenix, AZ
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU8532913027
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.
- La Fonda Chairs by Eames for Herman Miller with Peter Max FabricBy Herman MillerLocated in Phoenix, AZPair of La Fonda chairs by Charles & Ray Eames for Herman Miller circa mid 1960s. These seldom seen examples have white powder coated La Fonda bases and have been upholstered in a playful psychedelic dead stock Peter Max fabric...Category
Vintage 1960s North American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Eames for Herman Miller Time Life Walnut StoolBy Herman Miller, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Phoenix, AZCharles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller time life stool, circa mid-1960s. This solid walnut example has incredible graining and has been newly detai...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsWalnut
- Dick Seeger Mixed Media 1970's Artwork with TextBy Dick SeegerLocated in Phoenix, AZSquare red painted wood, lucite and mirrored artwork by Arizona artist Dick Seeger with saying, "Life is the Foreplay Before the Orgasm."Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Decorative Art
MaterialsMirror, Lucite, Wood
- Dick Seeger Text-based Lucite ArtBy Dick SeegerLocated in Phoenix, AZArizona artist Dick Seeger's collection of original sayings in black fonts on white lucite squares. Price is for set of three.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Decorative Art
MaterialsLucite
$375 / set - Dick Seeger Psychedelic Midcentury PaintingBy Dick SeegerLocated in Phoenix, AZFramed psychedelic style painting by Arizona artist Dick Seeger with the message, "A requirement for sanity is the knowledge that part of you is insane."Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Decorative Art
MaterialsPaint
- John Mascheroni Rare 1970's Sculptural Floor LampBy John MascheroniLocated in Phoenix, AZSeldom seen sculpted aluminum floor lamp by John Mascheroni, circa early 1970s.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
- Set of Three Framed Early 20th Century Italian Cello BacksLocated in Chicago, ILA remarkable set of three early 20th century Italian cello backs, each frames in a deep shadow box with a simple white gallery frame. Perfect for the classical music aficionado in yo...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Decorative Art
MaterialsWood
- Antique 19th Century Infant Christening Gown Lace Baby Dress ShadowboxLocated in Dayton, OH"Early 19th century infant’s white lace trimmed christening gown, frame in a shadowbox with robin’s egg blue background and a small dried nosegay of baby’s breath and blue silk flowers. Measure: 31". Family history on reverse dates dress to 1819. ""Baby dress...Category
Antique Early 19th Century Regency Shadow Boxes
MaterialsCotton
- Gilt Framed Sèvres Bisque Plaque with Cornelian Cabochons and Gilt Bronze MountsBy Manufacture Nationale de SèvresLocated in Norwood, NJGilt framed 19th century Sèvres bisque plaque depicting cupid and zodiac with cornelian cabochons and gilt bronze mounts. Sèvres bisque rondel medallion ...Category
Antique Late 19th Century French Neoclassical Shadow Boxes
MaterialsStone, Gold Plate, Bronze
- Pair of Framed Antique IntagliosLocated in East Hampton, NYPair of Antique intaglios newly framed on camouflage burlap.Category
Antique 19th Century Decorative Art
MaterialsBurlap, Glass, Plaster, Wood
$2,900 / set - Vintage Cubist Style Oil Painting on CanvasLocated in Delray Beach, FLIntriguing painting in cubist style probably by European Artist signed by the artist.Category
Vintage 1960s Unknown Decorative Art
MaterialsGlass, Wood
- Antique Francois Grenier Mixed Media 3D "Tiger Hunt" Collage La Chasse au TigreLocated in Dayton, OHAntique mixed-media enhanced engraving artwork attributed to Francois Grenier. François GRENIER b. 1793-1867. This work features a hunting scene from India, framed shadowbox style, signed in stone lower left and titled on backside. La Chasse au Tigre translates to (Tiger Chase or Tiger Hunt...Category
Antique Early 19th Century British Colonial Shadow Boxes
MaterialsOrganic Material, Paper
$960 Sale Price20% Off