A true piece of history: the ‚Braniff Chair‘ by Alexander Girard. In 1965 Girard was commissioned with a complete redesign for Braniff Airlines, from chairs to settees, from wall hangings to blankets, from flight bags to whole planes.

Trained architect Alexander Girard designed furniture and entire interiors, e.g. the legendary restaurant ‚La Fonda del Sol‘ in the Time & Life building in NYC. He had a very close friendship and professional relationship with George Nelson and Ray & Charles Eames and became head of the textile department of the Herman Miller company. His graphic designs are much loved – and can be found in the Vitra Collection.

This rare chair belongs to the Braniff airline furnishings, produced by Herman Miller and available for private customers in 1967 only. A cast aluminium frame supports an upholstered seat that is shaped in steel and buffered with rubber edging. Upholstery in contrasting light brown tones. The chair is in good condition, the upholstery is soft, the vinyl shows two small damages.

A short introduction into the famous Braniff redesign project by Alexander Girard:

„CEO Harding Lawrence demanded that a new promotion and advertising program be designed to catapult Braniff into the world spotlight in a very short period of time. To help with this, he hired the New York advertising think tank of Jack Tinker and Partners, employer of Mary Wells, who had made a name for herself on Madison Avenue. Mrs. Wells created a campaign that revolutionized the entire way that airlines presented themselves to the public.”

“The end of the plain plane campaign introduced the airline world to Alexander Girard who designed over 17,000 public contact items and Emilio Pucci who designed a space age themed couture uniform for ground and flight personnel. Girard designed an amazing palette of bright and vibrant colours that were painted on Braniff’s jet aircraft along with corresponding interiors with bright and colourful seat fabrics. Flying on Braniff was stylish and exciting and the rest of the industry followed.“