This chair was made in about 1900 in Catskill, New York, the region that inspired some of America’s greatest landscape painting. In the nineteenth century, artists, writers, and tourists travelled to the Catskills in awe of the falls, mountains, and landscape views, which Frederick Church among others so famously depicted. The rapid development of the...
What did George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, General Knox, and Benjamin Franklin have in common? Windsor chairs. These chairs were first produced in England in the very first years of the 18th century. Although many folk tales surround the origin of the name (including some involving George III caught in a rain storm), it is likely...
In 1951, Danish architect and designer Finn Juhl brought Danish Modernism to forefront of American consciousness. He did so with his interior for the “Good Design” Exhibition in Chicago, as well his design for the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, which he completed the following year. However, Juhl’s sculptural forms,...
Small Diamond chair, model 421-1. Designed by Harry Bertoia (Italian, 1915–1978), upholstery designed by Antoinette Lackner Webster (Toni Prestini) (American, 1909–1998). Manufactured by Knoll Associates, Inc. United States, ca. 1957. Plastic-coated wire, cotton upholstery, foam rubber, 77.5 × 88.9 × 74.9 cm (30 1⁄2 in. × 35 in. × 29 1⁄2 in.). Cooper-Hewitt, National Design...
The graphics indicate the melding of technology and nature I was in San Francisco last week to meet old friends from IDEO and Stanford, and while there I was privileged to give the inaugural lecture for the new Interaction Design Program at CCA (California College of the Arts). Students will start this fall, enrolling for...
Bill Moggridge, director of Cooper-Hewitt, was awarded the 2010 Prince Philip Designers Prize Tuesday, Nov. 9. The U.K.’s most prestigious design prize is awarded annually to recognize a lifetime contribution to design. As one of the pioneering designers of the 20th century, the jury, chaired by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, determined that Moggridge...
Cooper-Hewitt’s Design Watch Members visited Steelcase for a private tour of the showroom and sunset reception on the terrace overlooking Columbus Circle. Lew Epstein presented the trends behind media:space, the convergence of furniture and technology, changing the way we think of work spaces as collaborative “destinations”. Members also previewed the Cobi chair, featured in the...
The Vermelha chair is an iconic piece, originally conceived and prototyped in 1993 for a gallery show in São Paulo along with several other pieces. The construction of the chair is very time-intensive, as it is handmade from a huge length of rope wrapped and woven to create the chair’s structure. Though the piece is...
On view February 15–September 28, 2008 As the seventh curators in this exhibition series, the Brazilian design team of Fernando and Humberto Campana mined the Museum's collection departments and chose a diverse group of more than thirty objects, dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. The selected pieces, which range from book illustrations and...
Fernando and Humberto explain their TransPlastic series as a fictional story wherein, in a world made of plastic, synthetic matter eventually becomes fertile ground for transgenic creations in which nature grows from and eventually overpowers plastic. The Trans… chair, the final piece in the Campanas’ TransPlastic collection, was designed especially for Cooper-Hewitt and is featured...
