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See more objects with the tag stripes, multicolored, furnishing fabric, domestic interior.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1961

  • Work on this object began.

2025

  • You found it!

Textile, Mexicotton Stripe, 1961

This is a Textile. It was designed by Alexander Hayden Girard and manufactured by Herman Miller Textiles. It is dated 1961. Its medium is cotton and its technique is plain weave. It is a part of the Textiles department.

Alexander Girard was an avid collector of folk art -- his collection, which he donated to the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, more than doubled that museum’s holdings. From 1955 onward, he traveled regularly to Mexico to purchase artifacts for interiors he was designing, for the Textiles & Objects shop, and for his own collection. On one of these trips he found a mill which was hand-weaving basic stripes, checks and plaids from locally grown cotton. The hand-made texture and vibrant colors appealed to him, and he continued to work with the mill for the duration of his relationship with Herman Miller. Girard was a colorist of extraordinary skill, and was able to unlock the tremendous design potential of the stripe—the most basic of patterns. Jack Lenor Larsen wrote:
“For almost two decades Girard’s designs for (Herman) Miller included selections from his famous Mexicotton series. His endless variations on related stripes, checks and solids primarily within the confines of one weave, one yarn and one density prove his innovative prowess. Such exercises often stultify; Girard responded to this discipline as do great poets to the sonnet form.”[i]

This object was donated by George R. Kravis II. It is credited Gift of George R. Kravis II.

  • Collage, Textile Design
  • colored paper mounted on cardboard, ballpoint pen and ink, graphite.
  • Gift of Alexander H. Girard.
  • 1969-165-272
  • Textile (Spain)
  • silk.
  • Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
  • 1983-4-3

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

  • Sidewall Sample (France)
  • machine-printed.
  • Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment and Friends of....
  • 2001-14-17

Its dimensions are

H x W: 463.6 × 134.6 cm (15 ft. 2 1/2 in. × 53 in.)

Cite this object as

Textile, Mexicotton Stripe, 1961; Designed by Alexander Hayden Girard (American, 1907–1993); Manufactured by Herman Miller Furniture Company (United States); cotton; H x W: 463.6 × 134.6 cm (15 ft. 2 1/2 in. × 53 in.); Gift of George R. Kravis II; 2018-22-125

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/420557243/ |title=Textile, Mexicotton Stripe, 1961 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=7 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>