Alexander Girard. A Designer’s Universe is the first ever retrospective dedicated to illustrious architect and interior designer, Alexander Girard. Held at Vitra Design Museum, it presents a great opportunity to discover this American creative’s talent and the exuberant and contagious energy he was known for. We sit down with his grandson, the artist Alexander Kori Girard, who tells us about the exhibition as well as his grandfather’s legacy.

What do you remember the most about your grandfather, Alexander Girard?

Nobody knows anything about his past. Every time I asked him the story of his family, he dismissed my question with a laugh and never answered me. He always said to focus on the present, and even more so on the future.

What I know for sure is that he lived intensely. He stayed in different cities – New York, Florence, London, Stockholm and Rome – and travelled even more, from South America to Africa. All those years of being in contact with different people and cultures definitely developed his personal artistic and cultural sensitivity.

In your opinion, what was some of his most important work?

It is difficult, and therefore interesting, to describe his work as an artist. He was a man who dedicated his life to the pleasure of art in all its various expressions. As a textile designer, he created more than 300 fabric designs, mostly in furniture for the Herman Miller Collection. The patterns were absolutely modern for the time, and they are still so relevant today. He also worked as an interior decorator for many projects: the La Fonda Del Sol restaurant, American industrialist J. Irwin Miller’s two houses in Indiana and Ontario. He also used to organise art exhibitions featuring very impressive installations, often using folk art artefacts he collected during his travels. (His collection comprised more than 100,000 pieces).

How did your collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum begin?

In 1996, three years after my grandfather’s death, the Vitra Design Museum came into possession of the inheritance of the Girard staff, composed of accessories, furniture and folk art, as well as more than 5,000 photographs, drawings, sketches and fabric swatches.

What was the organisation process like for this retrospective?

For this exhibition, curator Jochen Eisenbrand spent a lot of time researching and selecting the pieces to be exhibited. In the end, we chose all the elements and projects that would show how broad Girard’s artistic activity was.

Alexander Girard. Designer’s Universe will be running from now until January 22, 2017 at Vitra Design Museum.

Vitra Design Museum

By: Maria Chiara Antonini