A New Exhibit at Cranbrook Celebrates the Iconic Work of Alexander Girard

Starting June 17, the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., will host “Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe”—the U.S. debut of a traveling exhibit of Girard’s work that includes furniture, textiles, graphics, architecture, sculptures, and drawings. Pieces from his collection of folk art—from which he drew inspiration—will also be on view. The exhibit is organized by the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, where it was on view last fall.

Andreas Sütterlin
Samples from Girard’s archive, maintained by the Vitra Design Museum, stored in boxes that he arranged and labeled by color.

Raised in Florence, Italy, Girard studied architecture in London and Rome. He relocated to Michigan in 1937 where he became friends with designers at Cranbrook such as Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames. Shortly after settling in the area, he opened his own office, gallery, and retail space in Detroit’s Grosse Pointe. He designed more than 300 colorful textiles, wallpapers, prints, and pieces of furniture for Herman Miller as the head of the company’s textile division and as its director of design, a position he held for 21 years beginning in 1952.

Charles Eames
Alexander Girard, designing the Environmental Enrichment Panels, 1971

Alexander Girard Estate
"The Design Process at Herman Miller" at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, 1975

The exhibit will feature furniture such as arm chair No. 66310, Herman Miller textiles, and photos of Girard’s projects, such as the 1953 Miller House in Columbus, Ind., and the 1960 La Fonda del Sol restaurant in New York. “Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe” will be on view until Oct. 8 and is sponsored by Herman Miller and Maharam.