Vitra Girard Ornaments, Dove

Along with his colleagues Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson, Alexander Girard was one of the leading figures in American design during the post-war era. While textile design was the primary focus of Girard's oeuvre, he was also admired for his work in the areas of furniture design, graphics, exhibitions and interior architecture. Girard brought a sensuous playfulness to twentieth-century design that had been absent from the austere aesthetic of classic modernism.

On his extensive travels, Girard avidly collected textiles and folk art from all over the world. He bequeathed a major portion of these objects to the Vitra Design Museum in 1993, together with the contents of his studio, which encompassed hundreds of drawings, prototypes and samples.

• Material:  metal with brass-effect finish