Why Design Now

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“Why Design Now” – Triennial Highlights
Exhibition Catalog, designed by Michael Bierut and Yve Ludwig of Pentagram Sunday January 9th was the last day of our National Design Triennial, open since May 14th. How can almost nine months go so fast? The show answered the question “Why Design Now?” with 134 examples, assembled from around the world by our curatorial team,...
Why Design Now?: Lin 94 Chair
Why? Flax is a light, natural fiber used to make linen cloth, but in the hands of François Azambourg, it transforms into high-performance, recyclable furniture. Lin 94 is a composite chair made from 94% renewable materials and an 80% plant-based epoxy resin. Lighter than glass fiber and similar in strength to carbon fiber, flax requires...
Cooper-Hewitt: Material Use
In any given day, we touch or handle thousands of different materials that are fundamental to our daily lives: a clay pot to hold the food for our dinner, a plastic toothbrush to perform our morning regimen, and a wool sweater to keep us warm and protected. Facing a simultaneous decrease in resources and an...
Why Design Now? Conference, October 1st
  There was a deluge at dawn on Friday, canceling many trains and tempting people to stay at home, in spite of their commitment to arrive at Jazz at Lincoln Center by 9:00 am for the start of the WHY DESIGN NOW? Solving Global Challenges Conference. Luckily, the event was streamed live, both on CooperHewitt.org...
Growing Respect for Dirt
Over the last couple of months on the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog, students from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team have been blogging their impressions and inspirations of the current exhibition,‘Why Design Now?’ This post by MFA Student William Myers marks the last in this series of articles. A...
A Tree Grows In The Backyard
Angela Riechers is a student from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team. Her first post titled “Green Burials: Recycling Our Loved Ones” appeared on the Design Blog July 9th and was met with a huge response. We figured a follow up was warranted!   Despite the 21st century’s...
Armadillo Suits, Soil Lamps, Folded Bikes, Oh My!
Over the next two weeks on the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog, students from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team blog their impressions and inspirations of the current exhibition,‘Why Design Now?’.     This year the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Triennial: Why Design Now? explores topics of sustainable design. Current...
MIT’s CityCar and the Future of Uncertain
Over the next two weeks on the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog, students from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team blog their impressions and inspirations of the current exhibition,‘Why Design Now?’. Just what, exactly, is MIT’s CityCar? It is a car, yes, and a tiny one at that. It looks...
E/S Orcelle Container Ship: “Delivering The Future Ahead of Schedule”
Over the next two weeks on the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog, students from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team blog their impressions and inspirations of the current exhibition,‘Why Design Now?’.     If there is one design on view at the 2010 Triennial that affects the lives of every...