Against a light orange background, a figure is drawn from illustrative black lines filled in with blues, yellows, whites, and browns. The figure consists of a brown-skinned man in a blue shirt whose body is entwined with the form of a chair, with his arms morphing into the chair arms and the two entities sharing legs.
We Are Seated: Tschabalala Self’s “Sounding Board”
“A chair always implies a figure, even if no figure is occupying it.”
Read Time
7 minutes
Posted By
Matthew Kennedy
Date
February 27, 2025
From Idea to Engraving: Stradanus and the Printmaking Process
Explore the printmaking process—from artist sketch to engraved sheet—in 16th-century Europe.
Read Time
8 minutes
Posted By
Jamie Kwan
Date
January 22, 2025
A watercolor featuring a silhouette of the Empire State Building against an ivory colored background, with a detailed depiction of an industrial site in the foreground.
Autumn in New York
Lean into the shifting season with this selection of autumnal objects from Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection.
Read Time
4 minutes
Posted By
Olivia Manno
Date
September 12, 2024
A Closer Look: What Fun Is a Font if You Can’t Play with It?
A look at the specific challenges and opportunities of collecting and displaying digital media.
Read Time
4 minutes
Posted By
Jessica Walthew
Date
August 23, 2024
How to Sell a Heater During a Revolution
Discover a collection of designs for stoves invented and produced by Ollivier’s Manufactory during the tumultuous period of the French Revolution.
Read Time
15 minutes
Posted By
Rachel Jacobs
Date
August 13, 2024
Symbols as Synecdoche: Creating Community Identity
How do symbols represent communities?
Read Time
7 minutes
Posted By
Pamela Horn
Date
August 8, 2024
A Closer Look: Displaying a Medical Model
Cooper Hewitt's mount maker discusses the challenges of displaying an object with a complex surface structure.
Read Time
3 minutes
Posted By
Sarah Barack
Date
July 22, 2024
Our Search for Symbols, 2024
Henry Dreyfuss's team collected thousands of symbols for the Symbol Sourcebook. What might a Symbol Sourcebook, crowdsourced in 2024 with your submissions, look like?
Read Time
6 minutes
Posted By
Pamela Horn
Date
July 11, 2024
The Library Is Open: Queer Texts and the Designers Who Enabled Them
The worlds of design and writing collide in this exploration of published work by LGBTQIA+ individuals.
Read Time
7 minutes
Posted By
Matthew Kennedy
Date
June 28, 2024