An Alexander Calder sculpture at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum.

Cubic bookshelves do double duty as a dividing wall and as a sliding door.

Kinetic Wire Sculpture by Alexander Calder The American artist’s hanging artworks—referred to as “mobiles” by contemporary Marcel Duchamp—are exercises of abstraction and color in motion.

Designed by Alex Hochstrasser, this award-winning rocking toy could be a chair, a sled, a spinning top, a cradle, or anything the developing mind can imagine.

This set of faceted balancing blocks from Fort Standard is a sculptural upgrade from stackable cubes.

Muuto will display its Balance vases, a clever set that uses magnets to enable gravity-defying angles.

Guerrero captured Alexander Calder in front his studio in Sache, France.

An Alexander Calder mobile installed at the Château La Coste's Art Center.

The upstairs hallway, which leads to Rottet's master bedroom, displays an 1969 Alexander Calder woven wall tapestry.

Here, an art print by Steven Harrington titled Balance, elements of which are quite similar to Perry's own work.

Residence and Atelier of Patrick Y Wong Copyright Case # 1-266025680 Filed October 27, 2009

Balancing Ergonomic Stool by Rene Siebum While the influence of his country’s rich design culture plays a part in his process, his attraction to minimalist architecture, such as the work of Shigeru Ban, has been more informative; his simple stool, for example, is just a stack of small blocks influenced by the shape of the human spine. Photo by Rene van der Hulst

Designer Todd Oldham will sing the praises of modernist designer Alexander Girard in his Modernism Week keynote talk.

From Brooklyn-based design studio Fort Standard comes this handsomely designed set of Balancing Blocks. Ten faceted, stone-sized shapes combine in myriad ways, letting children and adults alike create original sculptures. The set was tumbled in water-based paint and packaged in a cotton drawstring bag, ready for gifting.

The interior of 25 Lusk, designed by Cass Calder Smith.

David Baird designed the custom sliding doors with materials and hardware from Home Depot. The doors also act as a makeshift critique wall for Bo and Sky’s artwork.

Alexander Calder Toilet Paper Sculpture

Alexander Girard’s Maharam Quatrefoil fabric is a vivid accent in Eero Saarinen’s Miller House in Columbus, Indiana.

"Coming from a fine-art background, I'm often influenced by other artists. For this collection I have drawn inspiration from Alexander Calder’s hanging and standing mobiles," says designer Bec Dowie of Douglas and Bec's new Line collection. "This inspiration is transcribed in all the pieces: the playful urge to elongate lines, explore balance both physically and aesthetically using honest materials."

"Alexander Girard: An Uncommon Vision" showcases textiles, furniture, and other objects that Girard designed as head of Herman Miller's textiles division, and for private clients like Braniff International Airways. Photo courtesy of Herman Miller.

Hand-painted wooden dolls by Alexander Girard, 1953.

The designers sheathed an air conditioning unit in birch plywood with geometric cutouts inspired by the work of Alexander Girard, Charles and Ray Eames, and Alexander Calder.

The late designer, resembling Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, 1629. Photo by: Hendrik Kerstens.

The entire Alexander Girard for Paperless Post collection, featuring 20 distinct Girard patterns, is available now.

Paperless Post has repurposed Girard's best-known patterns to fit different occasions. Originally designed in 1960 as branding for a restaurant, the La Fonda del Sol sun is particularly effective at enlivening summer party invitations.

The customizable greeting cards were inspired in part by Girard's personal fondness for letter-writing. Aleishall Girard Maxon, Girard's granddaughter and Co-Creative Director of Girard Studio, says, “As an avid traveler and someone who had a fascination in drawing connections between cultures across multiple continents, he would have embraced digital communication for its ability to bridge the gaps of time and space.”

The collection also includes holiday cards, such as this one bearing Girard's 1966 Merry Christmas Heart design.

A large-scale photo of Girard greets visitors to the exhibition space. At left is a display case devoted to the short-lived Textiles & Objects store that Girard opened in New York City in 1961. Photo courtesy of Herman Miller.

Paperless Post and Girard Studio have teamed up to create Alexander Girard for Paperless Post, a collection of print and digital greeting cards featuring many of the midcentury designer's most iconic patterns and motifs. The instantly recognizable symbols communicate great sentiment with little or no text, making them a natural fit for the medium.

Alexander Girard continued to work with the Millers on their house for more than 15 years, adapting the interiors of the house as the family’s needs changed.

Alexander Calder's hanging artworks are timeless exercises of abstraction and color in motion.

The exterior of the exhibition space at 446 West 14th Street. Image courtesy of Herman Miller.

Girard designed the Color Wheel ottomans, shown here, for Braniff International Airways as part of a top-to-bottom rebranding effort in 1965. A reproduction of a poster that Girard designed for his Textiles & Objects store, hangs on the wall at right. Photo courtesy of Herman Miller.

A sitting room in the back is outfitted with marble-topped Splayed Leg tables (foreground), one of the Girard pieces that Herman Miller is reintroducing. Three of Girard's screen-printed environmental enrichment panels—from left, "Knot," "Eyes," and "Black and White"—hang on the wall above the couch. Photo courtesy of Herman Miller.

Chicago’s Federal Center Plaza is home to Alexander Calder’s Flamingo sculpture and the Kluczynski Federal Building, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

What was once the industrial loft of a knitting mill is now a modern canvas for a collection of some 300 pieces of art. One can find pieces from Alexander Calder, Dan Flavin, John McCracken, Gary Hume, Francis Picabia, and more covering this renovated loft by Fiedler Marciano Architecture in conjunction with the art-loving husband-and-wife team that own the home. While the collection informed many of the elements, the space is a fusing, or conversation, rather, between the art, architecture, and design. The owners wanted a home, not a gallery.