2020 YEAR IN REVIEW

In February and March, we opened Contemporary Muslim Fashions and Willi Smith: Street Couture, highlighting design pioneers who have helped drive the fashion industry towards greater inclusivity.

The Willi Smith Community Archive, launched in conjunction with the exhibition, contributes to a greater understanding of the late designer’s life and work through the collective memory of friends, collaborators, and members of the public.

The 2020 National High School Design Competition challenged students around the country to design inclusive solutions to obstacles that currently exclude people. Out of 597 entries by 951 students, three finalists were selected to participate in virtual mentoring workshops with experts in the field.

“Cooper Hewitt taught us so much about how design works and the impact it has on all aspects of everyday life.”– Priya Agarwal and Anika Agnihotri, winners of the 2020 National High School Design Competition

In May, Cooper Hewitt began co-hosting Designing on the Front Lines, a weekly series exploring the intersection of design and medical practice with doctors and designers at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also in May, Cooper Hewitt’s Interaction Lab held its first Pandemic as Portal program, where participants from around the world collaborated in an interactive whiteboard session to explore what we want to leave behind in the pre-pandemic past and what we want to carry with us into the post-pandemic future.

From Health Design Thinking: Creating Products and Services for Better Health to the climate issue of Design Journal, our publications captured important conversations about the responsibility of design in facilitating lasting change for the world.

In February, the Smithsonian launched Smithsonian Open Access. More than 3 million 2D and 3D images have been released into the public domain so far—including 42,000 (and counting!) assets from Cooper Hewitt’s collection of historical and contemporary design— allowing users everywhere to download, share, and remix ideas.

In April, we launched the Digital Mansion, where visitors can experience Cooper Hewitt remotely—from online exhibition content and virtual programs to the history of the museum and design stories from our archives.

Our growing Smithsonian Learning Lab collection provides teaching tools for educators and caregivers, including design case studies that apply core areas of study to real-world problems.

In June, we published the Design at Home Activity Book in both English and Spanish, partnering with various community organizations throughout the United States to distribute free education resources that do not require internet connection.

Cooper Hewitt presented the 2020 National Design Awards at our first-ever virtual gala on October 1, bringing over two thousand people across the world together to celebrate the winners and the power of design.

We celebrated National Design Month throughout October, offering free virtual programs for all, including workshops, talks, studio tours, career fairs, and more with National Design Award winners and guest designers.