Designed by Girard (1907–1993) for Herman Miller in 1957, Names brings together two of the many facets of this versatile artist’s oeuvre: textile design and typography. In 1952, Girard was hired to direct the new division, Herman Miller Textiles, and tasked to create seasonal collections that integrated with the firm’s modern furniture and overall interior schemes. Names’s fluid and lacy design relies on a cursive, handwritten style. Curlicues and loops almost continuously link the letters in horizontal registers of four repeating lines, each with a set of names, some of which may have belonged to Herman Miller employees. Instantly recognizable are “George” (Nelson), “Susan” (Girard’s wife), “Dick,” and “Max” (possibly De Pree); less discernible ones may be “Sam” and “Charles” (possibly Eames).
This version of the design, screen printed in black on a sheer off-white rayon ground, was intended for window treatments or for use as room dividers. A panel of Names, suspended as a scrim from the ceiling of Herman Miller’s groundbreaking Textiles & Objects boutique (est. 1961), is visible in a photograph from that year taken by Charles Eames (below).
Names screen-printed rayon by Alexander Girard for Herman Miller (American), 1957. 144 x 50 in.
