Cooper Hewitt Annouces Fall 2016 Public Programs

August 29, 2016
News Release
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Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum announces a variety of stimulating programs this fall for students, teachers, design professionals, families and the general public. Highlights include exhibition-related lectures and workshops on textiles, creative reuse and socially responsible design; conversations with influential and game-changing design practitioners; the return of the Design by Hand, led by world-renowned embroidery house Lesage; and the introduction of a salon-style exchange with winners of the 2016 National Design Awards. 

“Our education programs offer the public more than just the opportunity to learn and interact with some of the most respected thinkers in design today,” said Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt. “With speakers such as pioneers of design for social change and artisans of haute couture to a former NASA astronaut, Cooper Hewitt’s fall programs will expand horizons and inspire audiences to dream big.”

Unless otherwise noted, programs are held at Cooper Hewitt (2 East 91st St., New York City). To register and purchase tickets, visit cooperhewitt.org/events.

Exhibition-Related Programs

Reviving the Lost Art of Mending With Christina Kim
Saturday, Oct. 1; 1–3 p.m. 
$20 for General Admission, $10 for Members, Students and Seniors 

“Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse” (on view Sept. 23–April 16, 2017) presents approaches to confronting the high human and environmental costs of the textile industry by three designers: Christina Kim, founder of Los Angeles-based fashion brand dosa; Reiko Sudo, director of Tokyo textile design firm Nuno; and Luisa Cevese, founder of Milan-based home-goods company Riedizioni. Kim will lead a workshop focused on visible mending, a style of repair that calls attention to signs of wear and the care that is taken to preserve things, followed by a conversation between all three designers and Matilda McQuaid, deputy curatorial director and head of textiles at Cooper Hewitt. 

Design Solutions for Curbing Textile Waste
Saturday, Oct. 1; 5–6:30 p.m.
$15 for General Admission, $8 for Members, Students and Seniors 

Inspired by ancient traditions of reuse and a respect for scraps as repositories of materials, labor and creativity, each designer featured in “Scraps” has developed innovative solutions for curbing textile waste. Kim, Sudo and Cevese will be in conversation with McQuaid. 

“By the People”: Housing for All
Thursday, Oct. 13; 6:30–8 p.m. 
$15 General Admission, $8 Members, Students and Seniors 

In conjunction with “By the People: Designing a Better America” (on view Sept. 30–Feb. 26, 2017), National Design Award-winner Rosanne Haggerty, president of Community Solutions, and San Francisco-based affordable housing architect David Baker discuss the importance and future of affordable housing in the United States. Community Solutions’ proposal for retrofitting NYCHA’s Tilden Houses in Brownsville, Brooklyn, provides a blueprint for responding to a looming crisis in New York City. Responding to California’s housing crisis, Baker’s firm has designed more than 5,000 units throughout California using a set of elegant, economical and “human-centric” design principles for place-based affordable housing. 

Designing Resilience to Climate Change
Thursday, Nov. 10; 6:30 p.m.–8 p.m. 
$15 General Admission, $8 Members, Students and Seniors

Designers from “By the People” will discuss the next generation of tools of resilience and the design required to meet social, economic and climate change challenges. Moderated by a design expert at IBM, members from Brooklyn’s Red Hook WIFI initiative will share how their mesh network helped them recover from Superstorm Sandy; Dorn Cox, cofounder of Farm Hack, will discuss the importance of designing open-source tools for a diversified and just farming system; and OMA architect Laura Baird will describe the innovative urban water strategy OMA’s team designed for densely populated cities.

In conjunction with Designing Resilience to Climate Change, college students will have the opportunity collaborate with designers and produce new ideas for improving urban living and combatting climate change.

“Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse” is made possible by the generous support of Eileen Fisher.

Support is also provided by The Coby Foundation, Ltd.
Additional funding is provided by Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd.
In-kind support for Reiko Sudo, NUNO is provided by Tsuruoka City.

“By the People: Designing a Better America” is made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation and IBM.

Additional support is provided by Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie, Deutsche Bank, Gensler, Lily Auchincloss Foundation Inc., May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation Inc., New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Autodesk and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

Morse Historic Design Lecture Series

Unlocking the Secret Garden: A Celebration of the Cooper Hewitt's Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden
Tuesday, Sept. 20; 6:30 p.m. (garden reception), 7 p.m. (lecture) 
$20 General Admission, $10 Members, Seniors and Students

In 1901, Andrew Carnegie commissioned an innovative garden to complement his new home just off of Central Park. This idyllic space is now open to the public after its renovation designed by Walter Hood, principal of Hood Studio and winner of the 2009 National Design Award. Margie Ruddick, 2013 National Design Award winner, will discuss how Hood’s design adheres to and even amplifies the historic Richard Schermerhorn Jr. design, and will situate the plan within historic and contemporary landscape design. Ruddick will provide a historic stroll through the work of esteemed landscape gardeners and architects of the 19th to the 21st centuries.

Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist and Innovator
Wednesday, Nov. 16; 6:30 p.m. (garden reception), 7 p.m. (lecture)
$20 General Admission, $10 Members, Seniors and Students 

Louis Comfort Tiffany used exotic motifs, extraordinary color and abstracted forms in his lamps and art glass to become one of the most instrumental figures in American design history. Benjamin Macklowe, president of Macklowe Gallery, will offer a glimpse into the multifaceted world of Tiffany’s art glass and lamps, showing how Tiffany’s process and innovations have affected glass technologies and the world of decorative art for the past hundred years. 

The Enid and Lester Morse Historic Design Lecture Series is made possible by the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Lester S. Morse, Jr.

National Design Week Oct. 15 -23

Winners’ Salon 
Tuesday, Oct. 18; 7–8:30 p.m. 
Free; registration required.

As part of National Design Week, the 2016 National Design Award winners will lead concurrent salons for discussion of new ideas and advancements in design. Participants will forge valuable connections with the brightest minds in the design world and network with fellow attendees. Light refreshments will be served.

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.

Design by Hand: Oct. 24–26

Maison Lesage’s Hubert Barrère
Monday, Oct. 24; 6:30–8 p.m. 
$15 General Admission, $8 Members, Students and Seniors

Launched in 2013, the Design by Hand series, presented by Van Cleef & Arpels, centers on the craftsmanship, innovations and merits of contemporary global designers. Since 1924, Maison Lesage has created opulent embroidery requiring countless hours of work and exceptional skills for haute couture fashion houses, prêt-à-porter designers and accessories manufacturers. The company was acquired by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel in 2002. Lesage Art Director Hubert Barrère will discuss the company’s heritage with Matilda McQuaid, Cooper Hewitt’s deputy curatorial director and head of textiles.

Lesage Fashion Workshop for College Students 
Tuesday, Oct. 25; 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Free; registration required.

Participants will learn the traditional methods of Maison Lesage designers and will create their own embroidery based on Lesage’s classical designs. Open to college students with valid student ID.

Lesage Fashion Workshop for Teens 
Tuesday, Oct. 15; 4–6 p.m. 
Free; registration required.

Participants will learn the traditional methods of Maison Lesage designers and will create their own embroidery based on Lesage’s classical designs. Open to NYC high school students, grades 9–12. 

Lesage Fashion Workshop for Families 
Wednesday, Oct. 26; 4–5:30 p.m. 
Free; registration required.

In this special family workshop, children ages 7–12 will learn about the traditional methods of Maison Lesage and work alongside Cooper Hewitt educators to create an embroidery sampler of their own.

Lesage Fashion Workshop for Adults 
Wednesday, Oct. 26; 6–8 p.m.
$20 General Admission, $10 Members, Students and Seniors

Participants will learn the traditional methods of Maison Lesage designers and will create their own embroidery based on Maison Lesage’s classical designs. Ages 18 and up.  

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

Game Changers

Dan Barry on the Future of Space Exploration 
Monday, Sept. 26; 6:30–8 p.m. 
$15 General Admission, $8 Members, Students and Seniors

Game Changers is a program of conversations with influential and innovative practitioners, thinkers and industry leaders across design disciplines. Dan Barry is a former NASA astronaut and a veteran of three space flights, four spacewalks and two trips to the International Space Station. He will describe the sensations of flying in space, from the G-forces at launch to the beauty of the Earth to the joy of weightlessness. Barry will also discuss the future of exploration, human and robotic, and why people are willing to risk lives to leave the planet.

Corning’s Jeff Evenson on Living in the Glass Age 
Thursday, Nov. 3; 6:30–8 p.m. 
$15 General Admission, $8 Members, Students and Seniors

Jeff Evenson, chief strategy officer at Corning Inc., will explain the technical and aesthetic properties that make glass such a remarkable material in fields as diverse as consumer electronics, architecture and medicine. Evenson will also share examples of recent innovations and discuss the possibilities for exploiting the atomic structure of glass. Drawing on his experience as chairman of the Corning Museum of Glass, Evenson will also discuss the role that artists and designers play in realizing glass’s creative and functional potential. 

Game Changers is made possible by support from IDEO.

Musem Day Live!

Tour “Fragile Beasts” with the Curator 
Saturday, Sept. 24; 11 a.m.–12 p.m. 
Free; registration required. 

Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket. Caitlin Condell, assistant curator, Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design, leads a tour of “Fragile Beasts,” an exhibition of nearly 70 rarely seen ornamental prints and drawings from the 16th and 17th centuries. 

“Fragile Beasts” Mindful Coloring in the Garden 
Saturday, Sept. 24; 1–3 p.m. 
Free; registration required.

In a coloring event in the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden, visitors can discover fragile beasts in delicate designs adapted from the prints and drawings now on view in the “Fragile Beasts” exhibition. Materials will be provided and the Fragile Beasts Coloring Book will be available for purchase at SHOP Cooper Hewitt.

Design Talk | Design for Work and Play
Saturday, Sept. 24; 4:30–6 p.m. 
Free; registration required.

Visitors can join curators Emily Orr and Cynthia Trope for a Design Talk inspired by the exhibition “Energizing the Everyday: Gifts from the George R. Kravis II Collection” and discover how 20th-century designers made the daily routines of home and work the inspiration for new developments in style, technology and materials for everything from cocktail shakers and coffee pots to typewriters and televisions.

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 reopened 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. The renovation of the Carnegie Mansion and museum campus was recognized with LEED Silver certification. Visitors can experience a full range of new interactive capabilities, including exploring the collection digitally on ultra-high-definition touch-screen tables, drawing their own designs in the Immersion Room and addressing design problems in the Process Lab.

Cooper Hewitt is located at 2 East 91st Street 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 Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden and Tarallucci e Vino cafe open at 8 a.m., Monday through Friday, and are 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 cooperhewitt.org and follow the museum on twitter.com/cooperhewitt, facebook.com/cooperhewitt and instagram.com/cooperhewitt

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SI-421-2016

Media Only

Laurie Bohlk

212-849-8420

bohlkl@si.edu