Press Room

Members of the press can view information for museum news and events and access the press release archive.

Press materials, including high-resolution images for publication, are available through the password-protected Press Images and Resource Gallery.

Ashley Tickle
Director of Communications & Marketing

Laurie Bohlk
Associate Director of Communications & Marketing

Contact information for media only:
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Department of Communications & Marketing
2 East 91st Street
New York, NY 10128-0669
Telephone: 212-849-8420
Email: CooperHewittPress@si.edu

April 29, 2022

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum mark Sexual Assault Awareness Month this April by announcing the joint acquisition for the Smithsonian’s permanent collections of the “Vitullo Evidence Collection Kit for Sexual Assault Examination,” the innovation that helped accelerate successful investigation and prosecution of sexual assault in the United States and whose influence continues to this day.

April 13, 2022

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum today announced four appointments to its board of trustees: Jennifer Deason, Paul Leinwand, Natalie Nixon and Ivy Ross.

April 7, 2022

This June, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will present “Designing Peace,” an exhibition exploring the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. On view from June 10 through Sept. 4, 2023, the exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.

February 17, 2022

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has announced the addition of several important works to the permanent collection. The museum holds one of the world’s most diverse design collections—over 215,000 objects that span 30 centuries. Among the current collecting priorities are to add born-digital and sustainability-minded works; bolster the diversity of designers represented; and acquire major historical pieces.

February 15, 2022

Nigerian British designer Duro Olowu will guest curate the 20th installment in Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s “Selects” exhibition series, which invites designers, writers and cultural figures to explore and interpret objects in the museum’s permanent collection. On view March 18 to Aug. 28, Olowu’s exhibition highlights the theme of pattern and repetition throughout the collection, demonstrating how designers, artists and makers have relied on pattern to express ideas, preserve heritage, capture attention and construct objects and environments.

February 8, 2022

Maria Nicanor, executive director of the Rice Design Alliance (RDA) at Rice University’s School of Architecture in Houston, has been named the director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, effective March 21. An architecture and design curator and historian, Nicanor has an established career in museum and curatorial work and brings a rich background in architecture and design to the role.

Featured Image: Installation view of "How Posters Work." Photo by Matt Flynn.