Alexander Girard was born in 1907 in New York City. He was considered one of the most influential figures in American design during the post-war period, alongside George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames with whom he was close friends.
The focus of his versatile work was textile design: as leader of the textile department of the “Hermann Miller Company”, Girard designed numerous textiles that mirrored his enthusiasm for vivid colours and patterns. He preferred abstract and geometric shapes, which he designed in many and most colour constellations.
His furniture pieces remain timeless and many of them are still available. Girard, who originally studied architecture, often worked as a furniture, graph, exposition and interior designer alongside his career.
He fanatically collected textiles from all the countries he travelled to, using them as a source of inspiration. In the last year of his life, 1993, he gave them all to the Vitra collection, together with his studio (hundreds of drawings, prototypes and patterns).