This Object of the Day  celebrates one of many treasured objects given by Clare and Eugene V. Thaw to Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.  It is republished here in memory of Eugene V. Thaw. Click on this link to read more about the Thaws and their gifts to Cooper Hewitt.    Heads down with pencils and brushes...

Heads down with pencils and brushes in hand, a group of elegantly dressed women are engrossed in the act of drawing. Meanwhile, two male instructors, conspicuous in their dark frock coats, observe their work. Yet these are not art students learning their trade in a master’s studio. Rather, this remarkably detailed watercolor by an unknown...

Viriginia Postrel has a piece on D.I.Y. design in the March/April issue of Print magazine. Postrel is a professional writer, not a designer, whose crossover book The Substance of Style helped convince people in business and cultural institutions that design has something to offer the economy. Her book was directed not at designers, but at...