Cheryl D. Miller is the 2021 Design Visionary National Design Award winner.

Behnaz Farahi is the 2021 National Design Award winner for Digital Design.

Presented each year by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the National Design Awards recognize innovation and impact in design. Welcome remarks are given by Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian, and Ruki Neuhold-Ravikumar, Acting Director of Cooper Hewitt.

How are emoji created? How are they evolving? How do they represent us? Since their origins in Japan in 1997, emoji have become ubiquitous, rising alongside digital communications. We use them playfully or to add snark or emotion to a text thread. They enliven or emphasize digital text. We use them to identify ourselves, and...

Fashion, Culture, Futures: African American Ingenuity, Activism, and Storytelling is a two-part symposium co-organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Presented virtually Thursday, June 17, and Thursday, Oct. 21, both programs bring together academics, designers, critics, models, artists, activists and others to share new...

Step into 1890s Manhattan and explore the stories of the women who founded Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Hear from curators and historians who have studied the legacy of Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt—their lives, travels, and the making of a museum. 00:01 Introduction by Matthew Kennedy, Publishing Associate, Cooper Hewitt 11:11 “Friends, Careers, Wars, and...

ARAB FASHION AND IDENTITY The Contemporary Muslim Fashions exhibition showcases the diversity of Arab and Muslim fashion styles and highlights Arab participation in the global and regional fashion industry. Join Cooper Hewitt for an engaging discussion about fashion and identity in the Arab world and diaspora, moderated by consulting exhibition curator Reina Lewis. Panelists include...

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum launched the National High School Design Competition in 2016. Every year, students around the country are challenged to design a solution to a unique scenario, inspired by Cooper Hewitt’s rich collection and stimulating exhibitions. 2021 CHALLENGE Cooper Hewitt is delighted to announce the 2021 National High School Design Competition: What...

In the latest installment in the Behind the Design program series. Curator Andrea Lipps, conservator Jessica Walthew, and Stamen Design’s founder and creative director Eric Rodenbeck discuss Watercolor Maptiles—a web-based, open-source mapping tool that displays OpenStreetMap’s data with the hand-hewn textures of watercolor paint. Launched by Stamen Design in 2012, Watercolor Maptiles is part of...

This video is the story of Key West Hand Print Fabrics, with Suzie Zuzek and Lilly Pulitzer. A version of this video with audio descriptions is available here. Read more about the exhibition, Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Prints that Made the Fashion Brand

Pioneering transmedia designer April Greiman has pushed graphic design into new dimensions, from the built environment to augmented reality (AR). Greiman’s designs are among the first digital graphics ever made, and her innovative use of advanced digital technology has made her a leader in the design world. In this talk, Greiman speaks about her career...

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME: BLACK SPECULATIVE FUTURES FOR THE COOPER HEWITT, SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM COLLECTION Dr. Dori Tunstall’s lecture examines the Black presence in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum collection, from 19th-century Congolese status cloths to Art Sim’s Spike Lee film posters. Considering the history and methods of 19th-century collecting practices, Tunstall addresses...

In the video, two of Suzie dePoo Zuzek’s daughters reflect on her art, passion, and legacy. This video was produced with a grant from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.

In this video, get inspired by the colorful, nature-inspired textile designs of textile designer Suzie Zuzek, then learn how to make your own repeating pattern. To learn more about Cooper Hewitt’s collection and lessons you can learn from it, head over to https://learninglab.si.edu/org/cooperhewitt

How did road trips and X-rays lead to acquiring an exceptional eighteenth-century armchair originally made in Mexico? Journey with us to discover the design history of this fascinating object that responds to Englishman Thomas Chippendale’s influential pattern book Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, published in 1750. While artisans from across the Atlantic adapted Chippendale’s patterns to...