In 1952, Alexander Girard joined Herman Miller because the founding director of their textile division. Shut mates with Charles and Ray Eames, he felt most inside materials of the time had been reserved, monotone, and considerably drab. In response, Girard upended these values together with his first assortment stuffed with brilliant colours, daring textures, and a strong sense of sample. “I see my function – and have all the time seen my function – with Herman Miller as one in all including to what they’ve, making issues extra palatable,” he stated. Initially designed for the Miller Home in collaboration with architect Eero Saarinen, the genre-defining dialog pit featured a blooming centerpiece: the Girard Flower Desk, bathed in brass.
Over the subsequent twenty years, he would go on to design over 300 items, every including and redefining the style of modernism and ultimately post-modernism, a visionary of his time. His affect is felt all through a number of totally different industries, having an impression stretching generations. Defining the Herman Miller textile division with a radical sense of pleasure has definitely contributed to their affect within the trade, a mainstay for over 70 years, selling stellar design and craftsmanship.
The unique Girard Flower Desk nonetheless lives because the centerpiece of the Miller Home’s sunken dialog pit, with a modification of an altered tabletop in 1977. In 2022, Girard’s grandchildren, Aleishall Girard Maxon and Kori Girard, who co-direct the Girard Studio, together with Vitra, labored collectively to reimagine the desk’s design.
With delicate tubular legs intertwining, including motion to the piece like a spiraling birdie over a badminton, the Girard Flower Desk retains a light-weight profile. These legs maintain up a captivating prime with deep scalloped edges that mimic a springtime bloom. A powder coat end retains the piece grounded in actuality, taking up a contemporary, deep charcoal or a superb pop of pink. The Girard Flower Desk is available in small and larges sizes, and works for indoor and outside use.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Library of Congress
The well-known dialog pit, a vibrant garnet pink, heightens the metallic particulars in a scrumptious manner. A lustrous brass end elevates the look and provides an expensive really feel to the piece. A real Renaissance man, Girard would ceaselessly dabble in different sectors of Herman Miller, from advertising and marketing, to packaging, exercising a plasticity in his work that interprets elegantly to up to date design. His workspaces had been synonymous with who he was, preferring to always create and experiment near residence. Girard famously stated, “I’ve no favourite materials; something can be utilized to create magnificence if dealt with nicely.”
Alexander Girard Photograph: Courtesy of Herman Miller Archives
For extra on the Girard Flower Desk, go to hermanmiller.com. For extra on Girard Studio, head to girardstudio.com.
