On the occasion of the exhibition Willi Smith: Street Couture, Cooper Hewitt hosted a virtual discussion on the role of memory in recording and reflecting upon history. Moderated by Eric Darnell Pritchard, author and Associate Professor of English at the University at Buffalo, the panel featured Steven G. Fullwood, Archivist and Co-founder of the Nomadic...
Author: Ellen Lupton Ralph Caplan (1925–2020) was a writer and thinker. His 1982 book By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV, and Other Object Lessons appeared at a time when few people were addressing the everyday impact of design. His 2005 book Cracking the Whip is...
We are heartbroken and anguished by recent events. As Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III stated, “Once again, we struggle to make sense of the senseless. Once again, we bear witness to our country’s troubled history of racial violence, from Freddie Gray and Eric Garner to Sandra Bland and Trayvon Martin. Once again, we try...
This year, the Smithsonian Institution launched its Open Access initiative. Smithsonian Open Access invites you to share, remix, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images—right now, without asking. Discover Smithsonian Open Access with these five designs drawn from the Cooper Hewitt collection. What will you create? PRINT, FAUST IN HIS STUDY, CA. 1652, Rembrandt Harmensz...
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, National Design Award winners Design that Matters, threeASFOUR, and Open Style Lab are working to increase access to personal protective equipment for medical workers and face coverings for civilians. This article highlights their distinct strategies. Design that Matters In 2012, Design that Matters (DtM) received a National...
Can you spot 10 egg-shaped objects from the Cooper Hewitt collection hidden in the entrance of Carnegie mansion? Download and print the puzzle (includes answer sheet) This activity was created by Ann Sunwoo, graphic designer at Cooper Hewitt.
Aliki van der Kruijs is a Dutch designer who invented “pluviagraphy,” a technique with which she records the falling of raindrops on textiles and porcelain as part of an ongoing project titled Made by Rain. Made by Rain recently entered the permanent collection of Cooper Hewitt, following its inclusion in the exhibition Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design...
Now that we’ve moved happy hours, birthday parties, and celebrations of all kinds into the digital realm, we’re sharing designs drawn from Cooper Hewitt’s astonishing collection of wallcoverings—among the world’s largest—for you to use as backgrounds on your video conference calls. Think of it as an Immersion Room experience for your home. These wallcoverings take...
The exhibition Contemporary Muslim Fashions examines the ascendancy of the global modest fashion industry. On view are 80 ensembles, ranging from high-performance sportswear to haute couture, that showcase how emerging and established designers are meeting the needs of stylish Muslim women. For the exhibition, the San Francisco-area image consultant Saba Ali styled the mannequins’ head...
Author: Laura Fravel Related to his trip to the Bahamas, this watercolor by Winslow Homer is a study for The Gulf Stream, a painting in which a shipwrecked man lies on a battered fishing boat as sharks circle in the water. Focusing on the boat, this watercolor sets the stage for the action of the...
This project summary was compiled by José de la O (Studio José de la O) and Christina De León, Associate Curator of Latino Design at Cooper Hewitt. Grana vs. La Máquina, or “Cochineal vs. The Machine,” was an academic project initiated by the School of Architecture, Art, and Design at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City,...
This appraisal of Cara McCarty was contributed by Andrea Lipps, Associate Curator of Contemporary Design Cara McCarty is a curator, lecturer, and writer on modern and contemporary design. Celebrated for her multidisciplinary approach to design, McCarty began her curatorial career in 1980 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) where she held several curatorial positions....
This tribute to Dianne Pilgrim was composed by Ellen Lupton. The world of design has lost a great friend with the passing of Dianne Pilgrim (1941–2019), director emeritus of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. When Pilgrim joined the museum as director in 1988, she brought her deep scholarly knowledge of American design as well as...
Barbara A. Mandel, 1925–2019 Cooper Hewitt Trustee 1997-2019 The Board of Trustees and staff of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum deeply mourn the passing of our beloved friend and exceptional former Board Chair Barbara Mandel. Forthright, fiercely intelligent, and a champion of design education, Barbara served Cooper Hewitt from 1997-2019, first as chair of its...
Author: Cara McCarty, Director of Curatorial Playful, humorous, poetic, and humble are not words typically associated with lighting design. It is considered a serious discipline. But the work of the prolific German lighting designer Ingo Maurer, who sadly passed this week, is just that. His endless fascination with the “magical and mystical” qualities of light...
