For Women's History Month, view more than 100 years of women's contributions to wallpaper design.
The exhibition The Senses: Design Beyond Vision challenged Cooper Hewitt's conservation team in its innovative use of multisensory installations. Learn how conservators addressed specific object issues, including scratch-and-sniff wallpaper, pillows, and chocolate.
The Schmitz-Horning Co. wall decoration catalogue from 1913-1914 is one of the Cooper Hewitt Design Library’s many trade catalogues. Schmitz-Horning Co. opened in 1905 as a wallpaper and mural manufacturing firm in Cleveland, Ohio.
In last month’s Cooper Hewitt Short Story, we buttoned up with a rousing exploration of the history of the button as illustrated by Cooper Hewitt’s expansive collection. This month, we delve into the uniquely Cooper Hewitt collection of historical and contemporary wallcoverings. Greg Herringshaw, the museum’s curator of wallcoverings, outlines three key areas collected by...
French style during the early 19th century is characterized by a strong emphasis on Greek and Roman imagery from antiquity. In many ways, it is a continuation of the Neoclassicism of the late 18th century. After the French Revolution of 1789, the new government encouraged the use of Neoclassical imagery in order to create a...
This sample book for the Paisley Collection is characteristic of the historic revivalism that was popular in the late 1960s. As the title suggests, all the designs are variations on the paisley motif. While many of the patterns show traditional styling, the designs have all been reinterpreted with a 1960s edge. The colors are vibrant,...
Can you explain a little bit about the type of work you do here at Cooper-Hewitt? I am the Assistant Curator in charge of the Wallcoverings Department, a collection of over 10,000 pieces dating from the late 17th century to the present. I am responsible for the preservation of these pieces, ongoing research, and making...
Design Watch Members explored the International Contemporary Furniture Fair with Matilda McQuaid, Deputy Curatorial Director. The tour’s theme, wallcoverings and textiles, led us to Scrapwood Wallpaper Made in Holland by Piet Hein Eek. Best known for crafting furniture from salvaged wood, Hein Eek created a line of non-woven, washable wallpaper. Next, we visited Trove for...
Trove founders Jee Levin and Randall Buck invited Cooper-Hewitt’s Design Watch Members to their environmentally responsible wallcovering atelier for a private visit. Jee and Randall constantly seek new ways to translate this three dimensional, five sensory world into a visual two dimensional language. Their modern photographic wallcoverings break the rules of traditional design. Patterns are...
