If you’ve been reading Object of the Day blogs you have probably read past articles on bandboxes. Popular in the United States from around 1800-1850, these were made of pasteboard and covered with either a wallpaper or a specially printed bandbox paper. The original intent was to store and transport men’s collar bands, but soon...
Many southwest Chinese ethnic groups, especially the Miao, are known for their spectacular embroidery. Traditionally women’s work, embroidery was a Miao girl’s first attempt at needlework starting as early as four or five years old. Watching their mothers and other women in the community weave and embroider, they would later pass on this knowledge to...
Bandboxes, rendered completely obsolete in today’s world of attached collars, were once a necessary possession for any man who liked to wear shirts. This patriotic example dates c. 1821- 1824, and it has lived within the collections of the Cooper Hewitt and its predecessors since 1913. The box is constructed of pasteboard covered in block-printed...
Cooper Hewitt curator Matilda McQuaid moderates a panel discussion about the role tools play in large-scale projects. Panelists including Paul Ceruzzi of the National Air & Space Museum, William Goodrich of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Chuck Hoberman, artist, engineer, and inventor of folding and transforming structures, provide insight into how we use powerful tools...
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...
A multitude of schools are at the forefront of devising low cost innovations around the world, these are only a few of the examples of initiatives and projects underway. Designmatters at Art Center College of Design develops a multi-component design solution for a mobile clinic in Kenya. A camel-packaging system improves efficiency, refrigeration units are...
