Director’s Talks: Maria Nicanor in Conversation with Josh Tafoya, 2026 National Design Award Winner, Fashion Design

Join Cooper Hewitt for a talk with Fashion Design winner Josh Tafoya—the third program in a new series spotlighting the 2026 National Design Award winners in conversation with Director Maria Nicanor. 

Josh Tafoya is a textile artist redefining the “Southwestern” aesthetic and American fashion from an Indigenous perspective. Drawing on his Genízaro, Spanish, and Chicano heritage, Tafoya blends ancestral knowledge of Rio Grande Valley weaving with contemporary fashion innovation to ensure the traditional cultural crafts of New Mexico live on in a contemporary world. 

About the Series 

In this monthly series, Maria Nicanor, Director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, sits down with the 2026 National Design Award winners for one‑on‑one conversations at the museum. Spanning design disciplines and the ten award categories, each talk offers an inside look at the innovation, practice, and vision behind the work of this year’s winners.  

The National Design Awards is a Cooper Hewitt initiative launched in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council. The awards and its associated public programs seek to increase national awareness of the impact of design in our everyday life. 

SPEAKERS 

A person in black clothing sits in a white room with natural lighting.Josh Tafoya is a textile artist whose work explores Indigenous identity within Hispanic and Latino communities. Drawing on his Genizaro, Spanish, and Chicano heritage, Tafoya redefines the “Southwestern” aesthetic and American fashion from an Indigenous perspective, celebrating cultural heritage while embracing a raw, grungy spirit. Tafoya’s designs reflect the rich textile traditions of his heritage, blending knowledge passed down from his ranching grandfather and weaving grandmother with contemporary fashion innovation. After earning his BFA and working with various luxury brands in New York, Tafoya returned to Taos, New Mexico, in 2020 to launch his namesake brand. Infusing his ancestral knowledge of Rio Grande Valley weaving with his experiences, Tafoya works with the goal of ensuring the traditional cultural crafts of New Mexico live on in a contemporary world. 

Maria Nicanor is an architecture and design curator and historian. She is passionate about public access to culture and rethinking the traditional roles of museums by experimenting with new storytelling formats that connect cultural institutions with civic life. Before joining Cooper Hewitt as its director, Nicanor was the executive director of Rice Design Alliance at the Rice University School of Architecture, director of the Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid, and a curator at the Design, Architecture, and Digital Department of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Before that, Nicanor spent almost a decade as a curator working on exhibitions and architecture initiatives at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. 

Accessibility & What to Expect: 

  • Format: The program will begin with a brief welcome, then the speakers will engage in a moderated conversation. It will end with an optional Q&A with the audience.   
  • About the space: This program will take place in Cooper Hewitt’s Lecture Room on the Ground floor of the museum. It is fully wheelchair accessible. There is an accessible restroom on the Ground floor. Read more about accessibility at Cooper Hewitt. 
  • Accommodations: The program will have live CART captioning. If we can provide additional services to support your participation, email us at CHEducation@si.edu or let us know when you register. Please make your request as far in advance as possible—preferably at least ten days before the program date.  
  • Recording: The program will be recorded and posted on Cooper Hewitt’s YouTube channel within two weeks. 

SUPPORT 

The 2026 Smithsonian National Design Awards and Design Across Time: Exploring the Smithsonian’s Design Collection received generous support from: 

LISA ROBERTS AND DAVID SELTZER
JON AND SHIGEMI IWATA 

AMITA AND PURNENDU CHATTERJEE
ALEXANDRA & PAUL HERZAN
TARGET
TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART
ARTHUR F. AND ALICE E. ADAMS FOUNDATION 

HENRY R. MUÑOZ III
IRENE AU AND BRADLEY HOROWITZ
CHRIS AND IRMA FRALIC
KIM AND AL EIBER
MARGARET GOULD STEWART AND DAVID STEWART
STEVE MILLER
KIMBERLY SCHUESSLER 

VICTOR CALISE
ALAN DYE
SHELBY GANS
HELEN HINTZ
PAUL LEINWAND
JOHN MAEDA
NATALIE NIXON
KAREN PHILLIPS
KEITH YAMASHITA