Today’s blog post was originally published on November 29, 2017. César Pelli passed away on July 19th, 2019. In addition to creating models, architects often think through the planning stages of a building’s design by producing detailed, hyper-realistic drawings. While they may lack technical notations denoting dimensions or materials, these drawings provide an overall sense...
Today’s Object of the Day celebrates the winners of Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Awards. Honoring lasting achievement in American design, the Awards take place annually during National Design Week, with festivities for all ages celebrating design creativity and innovation. Today’s blog post was originally published on March 29, 2018. As design director for her alma mater, Art Center...
In celebration of Women’s History Month, March Object of the Day posts highlight women designers in the collection. As design director for her alma mater, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, from 1991 to 1996, designer and artist Rebeca Méndez (b. 1962, Mexico City; active Los Angeles) played a key role in re-envisioning...
In addition to creating models, architects often think through the planning stages of a building’s design by producing detailed, hyper-realistic drawings. While they may lack technical notations denoting dimensions or materials, these drawings provide an overall sense of the future building’s design. This 1981 charcoal and graphite rendering by Argentine-born architect Cesar Pelli depicts the...
New York-based designer Stephen Burks is known internationally for his innovative synthesis of industrial manufacturing and hand-made craft traditions.[1] He has collaborated and consulted with numerous high-profile international design brands and manufacturers, including Cappellini, Dedon, Ligne Roset, Missoni, Roche Bobois, and Swarovski, among others. Through Aid To Artisans, Burks has also partnered with craftspeople in...
The Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL), a non-governmental organization headquartered in Havana, Cuba, was founded in January 1966.[1] This poster by Alberto Blanco, proclaiming global solidarity with Puerto Rico, was produced for OSPAAAL in 1981. Until 1990, OSPAAAL circulated Tricontinental magazine, which reached eighty-seven countries at its peak, and included...
Cheryl R. Riley is a contemporary artist and furniture designer, whose work examines the stylistic and societal parallels between distinct cultures.[1] Riley is inspired by African diasporic iconography and subject matter, and its connection to other international and historical modes of cultural expression.[2] Riley explains, “My work is typically a mash-up of world cultures with...
In 1941, famed French Art Deco silversmith Jean Puiforcat (1897-1945) wrote news from Mexico to his daughter, Claude, in Paris: “The country is truly marvelous; this captivating natural landscape accentuated by a civilization that goes back to the mist of time.”[1] Escaping German-held France, Puiforcat, soon joined by his family, fled to Mexico, establishing a...
