Yesterday I read a succinct little book called Which “Aesthetics” do you Mean? – Ten Definitions by Leonard Koren, in which he discusses alternative ways of understanding the meaning of aesthetics. I was fascinated by the hybrid-functionalist definition, saying that an art object is always “about something” as opposed to just “being something.” Leonard...
A picnic in the park as a starting point. This is the first of the grand challenges posed by Secretary Wayne Clough for the new strategic plan of the Smithsonian. Here’s the explanatory sentence: “We will continue to lead the quest to understand the fundamental nature of the cosmos, using next-generation technologies to explore our...
Ted Muehling Expounds Ted hosted a group of Cooper-Hewitt members at his studio and store in SoHo this week, as you can see from the Monday at Muehling’s post, giving them a peek at his wonderfully creative environment full of glass, emotive sculpture and creatures from the natural world. He is also the guest curator...
On May 14, 2009, Cooper-Hewitt opens Design for a Living World, an exhibition developed by The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s leading conservation organizations. As part of our partnership with TNC, Cooper-Hewitt met the challenge of publishing a companion book that would emphasize the exhibition’s principal themes: sustainable design and materials, and responsible conservation...
From citizen journalists to user generated conferences the dialogue keeps expanding. Those of us who could not make it to BarCamp Africa this past October in California the organizers posted video clips of the panels. This user generated conference was designed to make connections between people and opportunities in Silicon Valley and Africa. Bryan Bell’s...
The Design for the Other 90% exhibition catalogue has been selected by American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) as one of the one hundred outstanding book and book cover designs produced in 2007. Working closely with Cooper-Hewitt’s Chuck Kim the book was designed by the very talented Laura Howell and Patrick Seymour of Tsang Seymour...
The Vermelha chair is an iconic piece, originally conceived and prototyped in 1993 for a gallery show in São Paulo along with several other pieces. The construction of the chair is very time-intensive, as it is handmade from a huge length of rope wrapped and woven to create the chair’s structure. Though the piece is...
International Development Enterprises’ founder Paul Polak has just released his much anticipated book Out of Poverty, What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail. Based on his 25 years of experience he tells why traditional poverty eradication programs have fallen short and how his alternative approach works. Paul’s work and dedication to developing practical design solutions that...
Here’s another blog that just became a book: Michael Bierut’s new collection of essays, Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design, published by Princeton Architectural Press. Sixty-eight of those essays first appeared on Design Observer, the blog that Bierut edits with Wiliam Drenttel, Jessica Helfand, and contributors. Bierut has started a conversation at Design Observer about why...
