Airport Design: Arne Jacobsen, Fritz Hansen and Alexander Girard

We used to love flying. But after Lufthansa’s decision to send us on unwanted world tour rather than directly from Frankfurt to Edinburgh we’re getting a bit sick of the sight of boarding gates.

And so as we flew pointlessly around Northern Europe we found ourselves pinning for Alexander Girard.

Although principally remembered as one of the worlds leading authorities on folk art, Alexander Girard was also one of the first “corporate graphic designers”; and undoubtedly his most aesthetic commission was that for Braniff Airways.

Back in the day when flying was a relaxing joy and airlines still treated guests as important.

Having, allegedly, received his pilots license from Orville Wright, Paul Braniff founded “Paul R. Braniff, Inc., Airline…Oklahoma City to Tulsa” in 1928. Over the next three decades the airline grew with the American economy and entered the jet age in 1959 with the purchase of their first Boeing 707.

In 1965 Alexander Girard was commissioned to redesign the airlines corporate identity.

The central feature of Girard’s concept was the use of single pastel colours for the fuselages, seven in all; red, blue, brown, green, orange, yellow and grey.

The result was not only a highly distinctive and individual fleet of 707s; but a distinctive and individual fleet of 707s that still looks fresh and exciting today.

But not just the airplanes themselves were painted in Girard’s pastel colours, the concept included luggage trolleys, staircases, vans, tow trucks and indeed everything that an airline needs on the roll-field.

In addition Alexander Girard designed nearly every aspect of both the plane and terminal interiors be it check in desks, seat upholstery or cutlery and crockery. The Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci designed the uniforms.

Looking over pictures of the Braniff Airlines brand Alexander Girard created, its hard not to get romantic for those far gone days when jet airline travel was still something magical and special.

Fortunately airports themselves can still be oases of style and grace and so as we enjoyed the comfort of the Arne Jacobsen Series 7 chairs from Fritz Hansen at Frankfurt Airport, we allowed ourselves to dream of those sadly missed days.
And designers such as Alexander Girard

(More information on Braniff Airlines and some wonderful photos can be found at http://www.braniffpages.com)