Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum honored the winners of the 2026 National Design Awards alongside a distinguished group of Gala Honorees at the annual Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala in New York City on May 19, bringing together more than 300 leaders from the design, cultural, business and philanthropic communities for the museum’s premier fundraising event.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum today announced the appointment of Michelle Millar Fisher, Ph.D. as Chief Curator, effective July 13. As Chief Curator, Fisher will define the creative vision and direction of content for Cooper Hewitt, lead the museum’s five curatorial departments and conservation team, and steward the permanent collection, composed of more than 215,000 objects. Fisher will succeed Matilda McQuaid, who will be retiring from Cooper Hewitt this spring after an impactful 24-year tenure at the museum.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum today announced a new distinction to be introduced at this year’s Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala: a group of Gala Honorees recognized for their lasting contributions to the field of design. The honorees will be celebrated alongside the winners of the 2026 National Design Awards at the annual awards gala Tuesday, May 19 in New York City.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum announced today the winners of the 2026 National Design Awards. Launched in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards celebrate excellence and leadership in design, recognizing the innovation and impact of individual designers and organizations across 10 categories. Award recipients are selected by a multidisciplinary jury of practitioners, educators and leaders from a wide range of design fields and will be honored at the Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala May 19 in New York City.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will present the immersive sound installation “Devon Turnbull: HiFi Pursuit Listening Room Dream No. 3,” from Dec. 12 through July 19, 2026, featuring a large-scale, handmade audio system by multi-disciplinary artist Devon Turnbull. The opening of the listening room marks the museum’s kick off to a series of music, sound and design-oriented programming over the next months and is part of the “Art of Noise” exhibition, opening in full Feb. 13, 2026, and organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

This winter, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will present “Art of Noise,” an exhibition celebrating the groundbreaking designs that have shaped how people experience music over the past century. Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and adapted to the history of the New York music scene for its East Coast presentation, the exhibition will be on view at Cooper Hewitt Feb. 13, 2026 through Aug. 16, 2026.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum today announced the appointment of Steve Miller to its board of trustees.

This fall, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will present “Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne,” an exhibition featuring Payne’s intricately detailed photography of America’s factories. On view from Dec. 12 through Sept. 27, 2026, the exhibition brings together more than 70 large-format photographs captured by Payne over a decade-long photographic journey to learn more about the craft of both industrial and artisanal making in the United States.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has acquired a major collection of work by the designer Tobias Wong (1974–2010). Often referred to as the “enfant terrible” of the design world, Wong’s influential body of work merged conceptual art, performance and product design. Through a gift of more than 50 objects from Wong’s family, friends and collaborators—including products, prototypes, digital designs and ephemera—the collection provides a new perspective on a critical voice in late 20th- and early 21st-century design. Cooper Hewitt is planning a monographic exhibition dedicated to Wong for late 2027, organized by Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, curator of contemporary design.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum today announced it will celebrate 25 years of the prestigious National Design Awards program and named the 2025 Award winners. Launched in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards and its associated public programs seek to increase national awareness of the impact of design in everyday life. 

“Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial,” opening Nov. 2 at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, features 25 debut commissions that illustrate the ways design is embedded in contemporary life. Ranging from domestic objects to built environments to social systems, the exhibition considers home as an expansive framework with varying cultural and environmental contexts, and “making home” as a universal design practice. Organized in collaboration with Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the seventh iteration of Cooper Hewitt’s Triennial series will be on view through Aug. 10, 2025.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum today announced the appointment of Elissa Black as deputy director, effective Sept. 9. Deeply experienced in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors, Black brings more than 20 years of executive leadership to the role. She has worked nationally and internationally on strategy, vision and short- and long-term planning for museums and cultural organizations, overseeing the development and implementation of dynamic cultural programming, as well as managing complex financial and administrative functions.

This fall, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will present “Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial.” Featuring 25 site-specific, newly commissioned installations, the exhibition explores design’s role in shaping the physical and emotional realities of home across the U.S., U.S. territories and tribal nations. On view Nov. 2 through summer 2025, “Making Home” is the seventh offering in the museum’s Design Triennial series, which was established in 2000 to address the most urgent topics of the time through the lens of design.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum today announced the appointment of Chris Fralic to its board of trustees.

This March, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will present “Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection,” an exhibition highlighting how the museum acquires new work to shape the collection to better reflect current issues and design’s evolving role in daily interactions. Presented on the second-floor galleries, the exhibition will feature more than 150 works, including objects that represent the museum’s collecting legacy, as well as works brought into the collection since 2017 that demonstrate what it means to be a design museum today.