Did you miss our conversation about Alexander Girard with designer Todd Oldham and writer Kiera Coffee? Register here to watch this episode of PRINT Book Club.
Designer (textiles, furniture, and interiors), graphic designer, and architect Alexander Girard refused to be boxed in by medium or style. He played with an aesthetic uniquely his own—defying the design canon. You may not know something to be “an Alexander Girard,” but his work is most definitely stamped on your design DNA.
Here are just some of the phrases Todd Oldham and Kiera Coffee, our guests and collaborators on Let The Sun In, used to describe the ineffable Alexander Girard:
“An incredible synthesizer.”
“A joyous creator.”
“Endless cross-pollination.”
“Inspired by everything.”
“Would have been himself anywhere.”
“Both timeless and ahead of his time.”
Todd Oldham’s first exposure to Girard was at eight or nine years old, in DFW’s new Braniff terminal. Oldham remembered being surrounded by patterns and color (and being able to touch the dinosaur bones they had excavated while building the new terminal). That explosion of color and pattern, though he didn’t know it then, was courtesy of a collaboration between Alexander Girard and Emilio Pucci to redesign every aspect of Braniff International Airways. Oldham later learned the extent of the Braniff project: Girard and Pucci designed 17,000 items across 80 colorways (luggage tags, ticket jackets, timetables, seat fabric, the actual jets!).
Kiera Coffee’s recognition of Girard happened naturally as a design writer. She had long admired his work without knowing his name and understanding who he was. Coffee’s collaboration with Oldham on Girard has been an ongoing project. Let The Sun In is the second book on the artist they’ve worked together on. (Fun fact: the first had serious “plunk value,” weighing nearly twelve pounds!) Let The Sun In is the perfect coffee table size.
This book is glorious everything. It’s the superstar tribute [Alexander Girard] deserves.
Todd Oldham
How do you encapsulate Alexander Girard’s singularly open and curious mind in a short recap? We can’t. But we hope you’ll register here to watch the recording and buy your copy of Let The Sun In.
Here are some additional links worth your time:
The gorgeous Girard Studio website.
Girard’s work on the La Fonda del Sol restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, in Architectural Digest.
More about a fan favorite: Girard’s John Deere mural.
A fun feature on the Braniff redesign by Billie Muraben: “The End of the Plain Plane.”
Coming up on November 21, the PRINT Book Club will welcome Nicolas Heller, aka New York Nico. Look for an announcement soon!
The post Book Club Recap: Celebrating Joyous Creator Alexander Girard appeared first on PRINT Magazine.