The Schmitz-Horning Company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1905 and was known for its lithographed borders and scenic wallpapers. One of its early papers was “Kindergarten Cut-Outs,” the first interactive wallpaper designed for children. These papers were sold as five-foot long panels at a cost of one dollar per panel. The paper in the...
Considered a genteel accomplishment, needlework was an important component of female education in colonial and federal America. Family register samplers, such as this late 18th century example worked by twelve-year-old Alicia Lawrence (1787–1866) of Hartford, Connecticut, were frequently made during the later phase of girls’ needlework training, and were a popular way of documenting and preserving...
Walter Crane was introduced to the arts early in life as the second son of Thomas Crane, a portrait painter and miniaturist. The younger Crane was apprenticed to a wood engraver at an early age and also began enrolling in drawing classes. He illustrated his first children’s books in the 1860s, working under Edmund Evans....
Be a part of history as Ed Morris, the co-author of Green Patriot Posters, leads a team of designers, thinkers, environmentalists and audience participants in creating America's Most-Wanted Eco-Poster in real time! The team will have two hours to come up with the design. In designing the poster Morris will also be leading the team...
DesignPrep Scholars joined renowned designer Todd Oldham for a 3-part workshop to transform the new Cooper-Hewitt, Design Center into a vibrant place.
2012 National Design Award winners share their inspiration and drive as designers in a panel discussion moderated by Richard Saul Wurman (Lifetime Achievement). Panelists: Janine Benyus (Design Mind) Thom Browne (Fashion Design) Rebeca Méndez (Communication Design) Scott Wilson (Product Design)
Tim Gunn speaks about design and answers real questions from teens. Webcasting live from New York City. The Teen Design Fair is a special opportunity for teens who want to learn about design careers from National Design Award winners and others working at the top fields in fashion, interaction, communications, architecture, and more. Designer guests...
The National Design Awards are bestowed at a gala benefit dinner and awards ceremony in New York City each fall. This year's festivities will be held at the spectacular Pier Sixty on the Hudson River on the evening of Wednesday, October 17. This year's vice-chairs are Beth Comstock, Aaron Dignan, Paul Herzan, Madeleine Rudin Johnson,...
Designer Eva Zeisel, born on this date in 1906, passed away at the age of 105 last December. A major figure in 20th-century industrial design, she is perhaps best known for her contributions to mid-20th century American modernist ceramics. Her career, however, spanned more than 80 years, and we are fortunate to have some of her early...
Patrick Jouin describes the rapid prototyping process used for the production of his 'C2 Chair'.
Contemporary British designer, Tracy Kendall, challenges the notion that wallcoverings are solely represented in two dimensions. In the White Room, one of her many bespoke three-dimensional wallpapers, is composed of overlapping rectangular sheets of white paper, which are finely hand-stitched onto a white paper backing. Despite the seemingly simple concept, I find this to be among...
Sicily, island of sun, myth, and the omnipresent sea, has been the prized jewel in the crown of many invading empires. The Mediterranean Sea was the channel for the great trade routes between the East and the West. Plying her waters, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the French, and the Spanish all...
After a week of nature rendering havoc on the northeastern coast of the United States, and televised images of death, drowning, and destruction, it is interesting to consider the work of the experimental architect, Lebbeus Woods, who died on October 30, 2012. Woods was a visionary for whom destruction and reconstruction were two poles of human...
In last month’s report we looked at what was popular on our collection site before we launched our new alpha version. I can happily report that traffic to our collection is up by almost a factor of three. That’s three times as much traffic to our collection than before. Even when we exclude the burst...
Visionary, prophetic, subversive, and marginal all describe the Italian architect and designer, Gaetano Pesce, whose innovative experiments with materials and production methods transform common industrial materials into expressive shapes for objects, furniture, and interiors. For Pesce, designing is not so much about form or aesthetics as it is about the discovery of new materials and technological...
