Cooper Hewitt Announces Lineup for National Design Week and Full Schedule of Fall Public Programs

September 11, 2015
News Release
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Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum marks the 10th anniversary of National Design Week Oct. 10–18, with a range of programs for students, teachers, design professionals and the general public celebrating the important role that design plays in all aspects of daily life. The museum’s largest educational initiative, National Design Week is a highlight of Cooper Hewitt’s full suite of fall programs, which include the return of Design by Hand, a series of workshops for all ages led by designers from Pixar Animation Studios; Game Changers, a new program of conversations with influential and innovative practitioners; and exhibition-related lectures on graphic design and architecture.

“Our education programs bring the public into dynamic contact with the world’s most celebrated innovators and problem solvers in design today, including many of our National Design Awards winners,” said Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt. “Participants are immersed in design’s rapidly changing landscape and the field’s latest innovations, while also gaining critical design-thinking skills.”

Launched in 2006, National Design Week makes design widely accessible to the public through interactive events and programs for students, teachers, corporate professionals, designers and other members of Cooper Hewitt’s dedicated audience. Kicking off with the Target Family Design Festival Oct. 10 and 11, the week continues with events such as the Teen Design Fair, and a panel with winners of the 2015 National Design Awards, among many others.

This fall’s Design by Hand series focuses on the craftsmanship and innovations of pioneering film studio Pixar Animation Studios, concurrent with the exhibition “Pixar: The Design of Story.” John Lasseter, Pixar’s chief creative officer, will give a Design Talk Nov. 12, moderated by Michael Bierut, partner in the New York design firm Pentagram. Programs led by Pixar’s creative staff include hands-on workshops for teens, families, college students and adults on all facets of the design process.

Launched in April 2015 with Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO, Game Changers is a new program of conversations with designers, thinkers and industry leaders across design disciplines. The series continues this fall with graphic designer Irma Boom, architect Bjarke Ingels and interactive designer Jeff Han.

In conjunction with the current exhibition “How Posters Work,” Experimental Jetset joins senior curator of contemporary design Ellen Lupton in conversation Sept. 16, while Philippe Apeloig and Georgie Stout helm a Graphic Design Meet Up Sept. 26.

On Oct. 8, Thomas Heatherwick speaks with architectural critic and Vanity Fair contributing editor Paul Goldberger about his studio’s origins and current work, some of which is on view in “Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio,” in a lecture at Cooper Union.

NATIONAL DESIGN WEEK: OCT. 10–18, 2015

Target Family Design Festival
Saturday, Oct. 10, and Sunday, Oct. 11; 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City

A free two-day family festival with educational activities for all ages, including scavenger hunts, workshops and storytelling, celebrating the 10th anniversary of National Design Week.

Design Tales Family Programs
Monday, Oct. 12, and Wednesday, Oct. 14; 10–11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City

Tuesday, Oct. 13, and Thursday, Oct. 15; 10–11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt Design Center, 111 Central Park North, New York City

A free literacy-based program for preschool children ages 2 to 5 and their caregivers incorporating storytelling, design vocabulary and hands-on activities.

Drop In on Design Family Programs
Monday, Oct. 12–Friday, Oct. 16; 4–6 p.m. daily.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City

A series of free afterschool programs, where families with kids ages 7 to 12 explore design through fun hands-on activities.

Teen Design Fair
Tuesday, Oct. 13; 4–6 p.m.
Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, One Bowling Green, New York City

New York City teens learn about design careers and educational opportunities from winners, jurors, guest designers and college representatives. Tim Gunn will give the keynote address.

National Design Award Winners’ Panel
Tuesday, Oct. 13; 7–8:30 p.m.
Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, One Bowling Green, New York City

A panel discussion with 2015 National Design Award winners about their inspiration. Panelists include Roman Alonso (Commune), Stephen Burks (Stephen Burks Man Made), Adi Gil (threeASFOUR) and John Underkoffler (Oblong Industries).

National Design Awards Gala (Tickets required.)
Thursday, Oct. 15
6 p.m.: Cocktail Reception
7:30 p.m.: Dinner & Awards Ceremony
Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers, 23rd Street and the Westside Highway, New York City

A gala benefit dinner and awards ceremony honoring this year’s National Design Award winners. All proceeds support Cooper Hewitt’s programs that educate, inspire and empower people through design.

Target Design Kids Family Programs
Saturday, Oct. 17; 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 1:30–3 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt Design Center, 111 Central Park North, New York City

A series of free workshops where families with kids ages 5 to 12 become designers and make fun projects all day.

EXHIBITION- AND COLLECTION-RELATED PROGRAMS 

Actual Size: Experimental Jetset
Wednesday, Sept. 16; 6:30 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
$15 general, $10 members, $8 students; registration required.

Experimental Jetset was founded by Erwin Brinkers, Marieke Stolk and Danny van den Dungen in Amsterdam in 1997. The designers are known for their rigorously systematic work, including the new identity for the Whitney Museum of American Art. Work by Experimental Jetset is included in Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection and is featured in the exhibition “How Posters Work,” on view through Jan. 24, 2016.  

Graphic Design Meet Up: Philippe Apeloig + Georgie Stout
Saturday, Sept. 26; 6 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
$15 general, $10 members, $8 students; registration required.

Graphic designers Philippe Apeloig and Georgie Stout will talk about their work and methodologies in today's rapidly changing world of graphic design. Enjoy a fascinating conversation about design, typography, branding, digital media, global practice and more. Moderated by curator Ellen Lupton, the evening will include unexpected experiences and encounters as well as a chance to see the exhibition “How Posters Work.”

Current Work: Thomas Heatherwick
Thursday, Oct. 8; 7 p.m.
The Great Hall, Cooper Union, 7 East Seventh St., New York City
$15 general, $10 members, $8 students; registration required.

In conjunction with the exhibition “Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio,” London-based designer Thomas Heatherwick will speak about his studio’s origins, current work and creative process with architectural critic and Vanity Fair contributing editor Paul Goldberger. Heatherwick Studio is known for its unique approach to design and problem solving, ranging from products and infrastructure to temporary structures and large-scale architectural projects around the world.

This lecture is co-organized by The Architectural League of New York; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; and The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.

Morse Historic Design Lecture Series: Reinier Baarsen
Wednesday, Oct. 21; 6:30 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
$30 general, $25 members and students; registration required.

Reinier Baarsen, senior curator of furniture at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and author of numerous scholarly publications, looks at the art of marquetry—including examples from Cooper Hewitt’s collection—to show how cabinetmakers across Europe collaborated and innovated.

Walter Hood Design Talk
Thursday, Oct. 29; 7 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
$15 general, $10 members, $8 students; registration required.

Landscape architect Walter Hood details his process behind the new Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden, discussing how he drew on the special considerations of the location and its history to create a space that balances respect for the Carnegie Mansion with an understanding of its contemporary role within the museum.

DESIGN BY HAND: PIXAR, NOV. 12–14

Designers from Pixar Animation Studios lead a series of programs and workshops for middle-school students, teens, families, college students and adults. John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar, gives a keynote Design Talk Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at El Museo del Barrio (1230 Fifth Avenue, New York City). All other programs take place at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (2 East 91st St., New York City) or the Cooper Hewitt Design Center (111 Central Park North, New York City).

GAME CHANGERS

Design Talks | Game Changers: Irma Boom
Thursday, Oct. 1; 6:30 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
$15 general, $10 members, $8 students; registration required.

Best known for her specialty bookmaking, graphic designer Irma Boom has designed more than 300 books, including Cooper Hewitt’s own collections handbook. In 2011, she became the youngest ever recipient of the Gutenberg Prize for her artistic achievements. Moderated by Pamela Horn, head of cross-platform publishing, Cooper Hewitt.

Design Talks | Game Changers: Bjarke Ingels
Thursday, Nov. 19; 6:30 p.m.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
$15 general, $10 members, $8 students; registration required.

Founder of the architecture firm BIG, Bjarke Ingels designs ambitious, convention-defying buildings that frequently incorporate sustainable development concepts. Now based in New York, Ingels’ work can be seen around the world, including the Copenhagen Harbour Baths and Mountain Dwellings in his native Denmark, the New Tamayo Museum in Mexico, the VIA housing project (formerly West57) in Manhattan and the new Google Headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. (codesigned with Thomas Heatherwick). Moderated by Scott Dadich, editor in chief of Wired.

Design Talks | Game Changers: Jeff Han  
Date: TBD
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
$15 general, $10 members, $8 students; registration required.

Jeff Han is a pioneer in the field of multi-touch technology (allowing touch screens to recognize multiple points of contact), featured most notably in the “Magic Wall” for CNN’s Election Center coverage. He is manager and founder of Perceptive Pixel (now a division of Microsoft) and was named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2008.

 

National Design Awards programming is made possible by major support from Target. Additional funding is provided by Design Within Reach and Facebook.

National Design Award trophies are created by The Corning Museum of Glass.
ndagallery.cooperhewitt.org is powered by Behance, part of the Adobe Family.
Media sponsorship is provided by Smithsonian Media.
National Design Awards and National Design Week professional supporters include AIGA, the professional association for design, American Institute of Architects New York Chapter, American Society of Interior Designers, American Society of Landscape Architects, Council of Fashion Designers of America, Decorative Furnishings Association, Industrial Designers Society of America, Interaction Design Association and International Interior Design Association.

Teen Design Fair is made possible in part by Adobe / Scott Belsky and Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Target Family Design Festival and Target Design Kids is made possible by the generous support of Target.

Additional support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Design by Hand is made possible by the support of Van Cleef & Arpels.

“How Posters Work” is made possible by major support from Adobe Foundation.

Additional funding is provided by the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York and the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.

Design Talks | Game Changers is made by possible by support from IDEO.

Process Lab is made possible by major support from Alice Gottesman.

“Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio” is made possible by generous support from Edward and Helen Hintz.

Additional funding is provided by the August Heckscher Exhibition Fund and the Ehrenkranz Fund.

ABOUT COOPER HEWITT, SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM

Founded in 1897, Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. On Dec. 12, 2014, Cooper Hewitt opened in the renovated and restored Carnegie Mansion, which offers 60 percent more exhibition space to showcase one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of design works in existence. Currently on view are 10 exhibitions and installations featuring more than 650 objects throughout four floors of the mansion, many of which draw from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 210,000 objects that span 30 centuries. For the first time in the museum’s history, the entire second floor is dedicated to showcasing the permanent collection through a variety of exhibitions. Visitors can experience a full range of new interactive capabilities, including the opportunity to explore the collection digitally on ultra-high-definition touch-screen tables, draw their own designs in the Immersion Room and solve real-world design problems in the Process Lab.

Cooper Hewitt is located at 2 East 91st St. at Fifth Avenue in New York City. Hours are Sunday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The new Tarallucci e Vino café is open daily at 8 a.m. The Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden, currently under renovation, opens in early fall 2015 and will be accessible without an admissions ticket through the new East 90th Street entrance. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Public transit routes include the Lexington Avenue 4, 5 and 6 subways (86th or 96th Street stations) and the Fifth and Madison Avenue buses. Adult admission, $18; seniors, $12; students, $9. Cooper Hewitt members and children younger than age 18 are admitted free. Pay What You Wish every Saturday, 6 to 9 p.m. The museum is fully accessible.

For further information, call (212) 849-8400, visit Cooper Hewitt’s website at www.cooperhewitt.org and follow the museum on www.twitter.com/cooperhewitt, www.facebook.com/cooperhewitt and www.instagram.com/cooperhewitt.

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SI-410-2015

Solo Medios 

Laurie Bohlk

212-849-8420

bohlkl@si.edu