{"id":33390,"date":"2013-07-22T01:05:47","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T23:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grapheine.com\/graphic-design-en\/alexander-girard-design"},"modified":"2020-01-04T12:59:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T10:59:06","slug":"alexander-girard-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.grapheine.com\/en\/graphic-design-en\/alexander-girard-design","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Girard, \u201cthe color-fool\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

To continue our series of articles on the great names in graphic design<\/a>, we told you a few weeks ago about Alexander Girard (1907-1993) discovered at the Vitra Museum<\/a>. Although his name seems unknown to most of us, he is nevertheless one of the most influential designers of the post-war period. His work had a profound impact on the 1960s.<\/p>\n

He has worked in almost all fields of design: textile, graphic,\u00a0 typography, interior design, objects, and even furniture!<\/p>\n

\"alexandergirard_portrait\"<\/p>\n

Alexander Girard, the color fool<\/h2>\n

Born in New York in 1907, to an American mother and a Franco-Italian father, he grew up in Florence, Italy. A graduate of the School of Architecture in Rome, he returned to New York in 1932, after having travelled all over Europe. It was during these European years that he fed his creativity with the then nascent modernist influence.<\/p>\n

He could have become a brilliant architect, but Girard did not like straight lines and drawn fates. From 1948 to 1956, he was a colour consultant for General Motors. In 1952, he was hired by Herman Miller, one of the largest furniture manufacturers of the time. He took over the textile division. He then worked with the best designers: George Nelson, Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames.<\/p>\n

During this period, his talent for power was expressed, and it was there that he created countless textile motifs.<\/p>\n

\"alexandergirard_textil-design-colorfull\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"alexandergirard_textil-patterns\"<\/a><\/p>\n

His work is strategic. He uses color to humanize the functionalism of\u00a0Hermann Miller<\/a>'s furniture. And if the industrial manufacture of the latter makes it possible to multiply easily the variations of colors and materials, it is above all a question of making forget that it is about furniture in series ! Thus, each consumer can pride himself on having a unique combination of colors! By designing seasonal collections, he brings fashion into the home.<\/p>\n

Alexander will therefore display his palette of colours and illuminate the interiors of the post-war middle classes.
\nBelow are some of his textile prints:<\/p>\n