How did road trips and X-rays lead to acquiring an exceptional eighteenth-century armchair originally made in Mexico? Journey with us to discover the design history of this fascinating object that responds to Englishman Thomas Chippendale’s influential pattern book Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, published in 1750. While artisans from across the Atlantic adapted Chippendale’s patterns to...
How does the National Design Award Jury choose the big winners? Find out in this short video featuring 2014 Jurors Bruce Mau, Kate Aronowitz, Celerie Kemble, Lucinda Sanders, Tom Kundig, Eric Anderson, Ivan Poupyrev, Armin Vit and Anna Sui.
From “eureka” to “uh-oh”, Design Is A Process. And designing the design museum has been quite a process in itself. The newly renovated Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will open its doors on December 12th, 2014. The new museum experience will be like nothing you’ve ever seen, brought to you by an interdisciplinary team of...
Take a look behind the scenes at the National Design Award Jury process. Hear our 2013 Jurors describe how winners get selected, what it's like to be a part of the Jury, and all the surprises along the way. The 2013 Jury: Charles Adler (Kickstarter) Gail Anderson (Anderson Newton Design) Gisue Hariri (Hariri & Hariri...
As a part of Cooper-Hewitt's Set In Style exhibition (2011) the museum commissioned a Facebook App that allowed users to place jewelry from the exhibition onto their Facebook photos. The Facebook App was built by Kettle.
Join Patrick Jouin, installation designer for Set In Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels, for a tour of this stunning exhibition from a behind the scenes perspective.
Jake Barton of Local Projects, National Design Award Finalist in 2010 and 2006, warmly welcomed Cooper-Hewitt Members for a behind-the-scenes look at his media-design firm. A great story teller himself, Jake spoke of the clever uses of information design, media production, interactivity, and social media to both solicit and tell stories. Local Projects was the...
Ted Muehling, curator of Ted Muehling Selects: Lobmeyr Glass from the Permanent Collection invited Cooper-Hewitt’s Design Watch Members to his SoHo showroom for a private behind-the-scenes visit. On this rainy Monday, Members passed the noisy construction on Howard Street, left their umbrellas by the door, and retreated into a haven of design. As Members sipped...
Exhibitions are hard work. At Cooper-Hewitt they are planned years in advance and involve several departments cooperating towards a common goal of creating the best exhibition possible. Once the research is completed, the objects chosen, the didactic panels and brochure text written, and the exhibition design layout completed, there is still one very important step...
