SIMS Municipal Recycling Facility in Brooklyn. Image courtesy of Selldorf Architects. Selldorf Architects, located at Manhattan’s Union Square, recently opened their studio to Cooper-Hewitt’s Design Watch Members. The firm has acquired an international reputation for work that is sensitive to context and program, thoughtful in execution and timeless. The firm has worked on public and...
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...
The 2010 People's Design Award goes to the Braille Alphabet Bracelet by At First Sight Braille Jewelry. The design of this bracelet combines beautiful jewelry design and the braille alphabet to help spread the need for Braille literacy. Unemployment among individuals who are blind hovers at about 70%, but of those individuals who are employed...
Design Research Store, Cambridge, MA, 1953–78. Photo: Esto Today Cooper-Hewitt announced the winners of the 11th annual National Design Awards. The entire list of winners and finalists is here. One of the best parts of my job is the opportunity to sit in and observe (without voting) the jury process as they determine the winners...
Chip Kidd, National Design Award winner in 2007 for Communications Design, speaks with Milton Glaser, National Design Award winner in 2004 for Lifetime Achievement, on work, ideas, and loving New York. Watch this video and many others on Cooper-Hewitt’s video page where we archive past lectures and events at the Museum. Both designers work is...
As a member of the 2009 National Design Awards Jury, let me first and foremost congratulate all of the winners and finalists. It was an exciting, exhausting, and inspiring process to review all the submissions and debate the merits and accomplishments of each. As a designer who has spent most of my career in the...
Perceptive Pixel’s Magic Wall played a central role in CNN’s rather exuberant coverage of President Barack Obama’s press conference last week on the occasion of his 100th day in office. The press conference was streamed on the White House’s YouTube channel, marking the first time the White House had ever livestreamed a news event. It...
The winner and two finalists of the Corporate Achievement category are, together, quite different from the winners of the past. As a whole, they represent what is possible at a smaller scale. The Walker does its amazing work in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Heath Ceramics has been handcrafting tiles and tableware in the same way for over...
Isabel and Ruben Toledo. Photo: Karl Lagerfeld What are two things that Maria Cornejo, Narciso Rodriguez and Isabel Toledo have in common? Well, all three designers are personal favorites of First Lady Michelle Obama, who personally chose to wear their garments during President Obama’s campaign. Toledo even created the outfit the First Lady wore to...
