Industrial Design

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Raised disc-shaped metallic-toned plastic body, the center pierced by six columns of small squares (speaker) above square black number and function keys.
Squaring The Circle
When Coherent Communications System Corporation decided to create this conference phone their goal was to accommodate the needs of conference calls by incorporating all the necessary telephone elements and electronics into a single, sophisticated speaker/microphone housing. For ease of use and efficiency, the engineers wanted to position the speaker in such a way that the...
Aluminum and steel streamlined meat slicer with rounded knobs.
A Slice of Design from the Local Deli
Designed more than 70 years ago, the Model 410 meat slicer, also known as the Streamliner, is not just a utilitarian object for the food service industry. It is also a wonderful example of streamlining, a style of Modernism that combines principles of aerodynamic engineering with geometry, often characterized by smooth rhythmic surfaces and forms...
Design Talks: Timothy Prestero
Design that Matters, National Design Award winner for Corporate and Institutional Achievement, is a nonprofit design company that partners with social entrepreneurs to design products that address basic needs in developing countries. Led by cofounder Timothy Prestero, over 850 academic and professional collaborators have worked together to create dozens of product concepts, including a low-cost...
An isometric view of a prefabricated sportsman's cabin with slanted shed roof. Rooms include living area with sofa and fireplace, and sleeping quarter with three beds (two are bunked). This drawing was published in published in Robert W. Marks, "Donald Deskey's Sportshack..." Esquire, vol. 14 (August, 1940), p. 69. A model of Sportshack was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's, Contemporary Industrial Design exhibition in 1940 and life-size at the America at Home exhibition in the 1940 season of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair.
Living Modern
In 1939, the pioneering industrial designer Donald Deskey, was asked to participate in the Contemporary Industrial Arts Exhibition to be held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in early 1940.  For his project, he designed a prefabricated weekend cabin, called “Sportshack,” depicted in this air-brush rendering. The many innovations in the house included a large...
Bill’s Design Talks: Scott Wilson
Museum director, Bill Moggridge, in conversation with industrial designer, Scott Wilson.
Cooper-Hewitt Visits Smart Design
The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt has recently acquired several original prototypes and drawings used to develop OXO’s Good Grips product line. Cooper-Hewitt curators identified this line for the museum’s collection because the products were a game-changing innovation iconic of late 20th century design. Watch this video to learn more about the story behind the objects.
DesignBoost NYC: Harry Allen
DesignBoost NYC was a two-day design conference held at Cooper-Hewitt in June 2011. Thirteen speakers specializing in everything from biomechanics to filmmaking addressed the conference’s theme, “Design Beyond Design” in this series of short talks.
DesignBoost NYC: Jamer Hunt
DesignBoost NYC was a two-day design conference held at Cooper-Hewitt in June 2011. Thirteen speakers specializing in everything from biomechanics to filmmaking addressed the conference’s theme, “Design Beyond Design” in this series of short talks.
National Design Awards 2008 Winners’ Panel
Michael Bierut, this year’s winner of the Design Mind award, discusses the state of contemporary design with our National Design Awards winners: Tom Kundig, FAIA; Scott Stowell (OPEN); Ralph Rucci; Lucinda Sanders (OLIN); and Charles Harrison.