Over the next months while the Design with the Other 90%: CITIES exhibition is on display at the United Nations Headquarters in New York several individuals whose own research explores the exhibition’s subject matter have been invited to write blog entries sharing their insights, related research and projects. – Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially...

This is the fifth interview in Chapter 2 in my new book, Designing Media Fred Deakin, Nat Hunter and Alex Maclean, July 2008 Fred, Nat and Alex are partners in Airside, a London-based creative design agency, with a fluent approach to using multiple media platforms. Fred Deakin is both a musician and a designer. He...

This is the third in a series of posts about my new book, Designing Media Paul Saffo, July 2008 I put the interview with Paul Saffo at the beginning of the book because he gives such an erudite overview of the changes in media and the challenges faced by the people involved its creation and...

This is the second of the grand challenges posed by Secretary Wayne Clough for the new strategic plan of the Smithsonian, with the explanatory sentence: “We will use our resources across scientific museums and centers to significantly advance our knowledge and understanding of life on earth, respond to the growing threat of environmental change, and...

James Smithson’s Gift
 “I then bequeath the whole of my property…to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge…” James Smithson (1765-1829) James Smithson As Cooper-Hewitt a national design organization and a part of the Smithsonian, I wonder...

The winner and two finalists of the Corporate Achievement category are, together, quite different from the winners of the past. As a whole, they represent what is possible at a smaller scale. The Walker does its amazing work in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Heath Ceramics has been handcrafting tiles and tableware in the same way for over...