Alexander Girard was an artist, an architect and a nonconformist. He devised his own design vocabulary, being dissatisfied with the status quo, and created products for the times. His influences were widely diverse and his work reflected it. It was expressive, modern and unabashedly decorative. 
Girard’s work with the furniture company Herman Miller was groundbreaking and his relationships with the Eames’ and George Nelson are thought to be some of the 20th century’s richest collaborations. Hugh DuPree, of Herman Miller, wrote of Girard “Alexander Girard taught us that business ought to be fun, that part of the quality of life was joy, excitement and celebration”. If he were alive today I’d like to think Alexander Girard would have enjoyed participating with a kindred spirit like FLOR. Ironically, a copy of a letter written by Girard to D. J. DuPree in 1953 was forwarded to me. In it he describes his desire to design a carpet program “similar to a tile floor in system”. Girard also references that George Nelson shared in this vision of “carpet tiles.” The letter goes on to describe how he envisions the system should be designed and structured. It describes modules of “background types” and “accent types” that could be combined to create a variety of rug sizes and variations. That is exactly the premise behind the modular design of the FLOR carpet tile system. I think Alexander Girard would be happy to see his La Fonda Del Sol patterns in the FLOR collection and might ask “What the heck took us so long?” | 
