American designer Alexander Girard is best known for the colourful textile patterns he developed for the furniture company Herman Miller from 1952 to 1973. He was born in New York City in 1907, raised in Florence, Italy and studied architecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, England. Over his career, his studio designed fabrics, interiors, furniture, typography, and graphics for clients like Braniff International Airlines, Georg Jensen and John Deere. “He had a unique way of looking at the visual world,” says Marilyn Neuhart, a designer who worked with Girard, “He would use pure color, which was not current at that time, and his shapes, drawings, and patterns were all unique.” During his lifetime, Girard and his wife Susan amassed an impressive collection of 100,000 folk art items from their many worldwide travels – pieces which invariably influenced his work. Girard created a wealth of cheery, colourful patterns that helped advance a distinctively American aesthetic, one which enlivens spaces to this day.
