Design Conversations

Object of the Month: Balcony Grill Posted by Sarah Coffin, on Monday July 30, 2012 "Beauty appears to us in perpetual variety. No parallelism or symmetry; forms are engendered from movements which are never alike…For construction, do not the branches of the trees, the stems, by turn rigid and undulating furnish us with models?"
Only One Month Left to See Graphic Design— Now in Production Posted by Katie Shelly, on Friday July 27, 2012 In this quick ten-minute gallery tour, curator Ellen Lupton talks about indie publishing, typographic spectacle, non-normative software use, design as fiction and more. Ellen Lupton, Exhibition, graphic design, walkthrough, tour, gallery, Governors Island, video
4 Questions 4: Anab Jain Posted by Katie Shelly, on Thursday July 26, 2012 The latest in our 4 Questions 4 interview series features Anab Jain, founding partner of Superflux, a collaborative design practice based in Ahmedabad and London. Anab is a designer and entrepreneur who has worked in film, interaction design, and innovation consulting. anab, jain, superflux, 4q4, 4 Questions 4, Interview, video, contemporary, strategy, consultancy, digital, 21st century
Selldorf and Zwirner Go for the Gold Posted by Jocelyn Groom, on Friday July 06, 2012 On April 13, 2012, as part of his popular Design Talks series, Bill Moggridge, Director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, spoke with architect Annabelle Selldorf about some of her notable projects. Annabelle Selldorf, David Zwirner, LEED, sustainability
Object of the Month: Newsworthy Posted by Greg Herringshaw, on Monday July 02, 2012 Newsworthy combines age-old techniques with the modern notion of recycling. Woven on handlooms using the same technique as traditional grasscloth, the wallpaper is composed of 100% recycled newspaper and nylon filament. Object of the Month, wallpaper
Object of the Month: Knit and Run! Posted by Matilda McQuaid, on Wednesday June 13, 2012 Cooper-Hewitt just acquired Nike’s latest high performance running shoe, Flyknit Racer, which uses the most advanced knitting technology and only the most essential materials to create an ultra-light and fast racing shoe. The Flyknit Racer is the first pair of Nike shoes to enter the collection and was chosen for its innovative use of textiles as both structure and support. Object of the Month, running shoe, nike, Flyknit Racer, knitting
Social Impact Design Capacity Building Posted by Katie Swenson, on Monday May 21, 2012 On February 27, 2012, fifty-some leaders from the academic, design, and funding communities convened at the New York offices of the Rockefeller Foundation for the Social Impact Design Summit. Convened by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in conjunction with the Lemelson Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Surdna Foundation, the convening aimed to develop tools and resources to support the emergence of a social impact design movement from the myriad activities occurring under this broad banner today. social impact, education, NEA
Object of the Month: Design for Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Posted by Gail S. Davidson, on Wednesday May 02, 2012 This drawing was architect Rafael Viñoly’s presentation concept sketch for Verizon Hall, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, as it appears from the west. Watercolors are an integral part of Viñoly’s working process, used in the early design stages to formalize his organizing concepts. Following the watercolors, more precise drawings present the actual resolution of the design. Object of the Month, drawing, watercolor, Rafael Viñoly, architect, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Verizon Hall
Social Impact Design: From Idea to Implementation Posted by Patrice Martin, on Friday April 27, 2012 A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend the Social Impact Design Summit in New York with a group of renowned designers and architects who have dedicated their careers to solving our world’s toughest challenges. At the Summit, there were many important discussions about ideas, but what struck me most were the passionate conversations around implementation. social impact, problem solving, HCD Connect, IDEO
Where Should We Go from Here? Posted by Kenneth Bailey, on Thursday April 12, 2012 The Social Impact Design Summit was a great opportunity to bring to the surface the controversies and commonalities within our new field of practice. We had representatives approaching design from corporate and nonprofit organizations, along with representatives from academia, with a correspondingly broad array of ideas about what constitutes social impact. social impact, design summit, corporate, non-profit, NGO, client, citizen, collaboration, commonalities, ds4si