Exhibitions

Making Design

December 12, 2014 – April 17, 2016

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
2 East 91st Street
New York, NY

2nd Floor

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Making Design is a rotating selection from the museum’s more than 210,000 objects spanning thirty centuries. Bringing together some 360 objects, including furniture, lighting fixtures, tableware, clothing, jewelry, books, and posters, the exhibition also provides an overview of the five key elements of the design: line, form, texture, pattern, and color. Like a visual library, the objects are a tribute to the variety of design concepts and processes that have contributed to the continuum of design history. With an emphasis on people, purpose, and making, the contemporary is integrated with the historic, different cultures are set side by side, and centuries-old traditions are presented alongside current manufacturing techniques.

In December 2015, the exhibition was updated and expanded to include several of the museum’s recent contemporary acquisitions, including digital works, graphic design, and architectural drawings.