Hella Jongerius (b. 1963), Textile, Repeat Dot Print, 2002, cotton, rayon, polyester.
2 East 91st Street (at Fifth Avenue), New York City. Open weekdays and Sundays, 10 A.M. to 6 P.M.; Saturdays, 10 A.M. to 9 P.M. Closed Thanksgiving and December 25. Admission fee. Pay What You Wish, Saturdays, 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. 212-849-8400 cooperhewitt.org
Michael Eden (b. 1955), designer, Tall Green Bloom Urn, England, 2012, 3-D printed nylon. Museum purchase through gift of Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
Founded in 1897, Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. In 2014, Cooper Hewitt reopened in the renovated and restored Andrew Carnegie Mansion with 60 percent more exhibition space than it had previously and a completely reimagined visitor experience. Interactive galleries throughout the museum’s four floors now encourage visitors to explore the collection digitally on ultra-high-definition touch-screen tables, draw their own designs in the Immersion Room, and engage in the design process in the dynamic Process Lab.
Technology is a key element of the reinvigorated museum, which has been a branch of the Smithsonian since 1967. The interactive Pen—a global first—transforms the museum experience, allowing visitors to collect, create, and permanently save their visits.
Frank O. Gehry (b. 1929), designer, Bubbles Chaise Longue, USA, ca. 1988, layered and bent corrugated cardboard.
Cooper Hewitt’s galleries present unique temporary exhibitions as well as installations drawn from the permanent collection.
Located on the museum’s first floor, the Nancy and Edwin Marks Gallery presents the popular, ongoing “Selects” series, which invites prominent designers, artists, and architects to mine and interpret the museum’s collection to curate their own unique exhibitions. Guest curators have included the Ghanaian British architect David Adjaye, best-selling author and artist Maira Kalman, and Dutch textile designer Hella Jongerius.
The entire second floor is dedicated to showcasing objects from the museum’s permanent collection. Here, the Models & Prototypes Gallery, provides insights into the important role of architectural models and design prototypes in the design process. Featured objects have included 18th- and 19th-century staircase models and 20th-century car models and drawings. The former Carnegie Family Library on the second floor displays intricately ornamental teak woodwork created by Lockwood de Forest.
The new 6,000-square-foot Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery on the third floor features exhibitions organized by curatorial staff and guest curators that juxtapose the historic and the contemporary.
Cooper Hewitt’s renowned “Triennial” exhibition series was launched in 2000 to critical acclaim. The only exhibition of its kind in the country, it showcases some of the most exciting, provocative, and innovative design created around the globe during the previous three years. The Triennial presents work from emerging talent and established designers in the fields of fashion, architecture, graphics, digital media, and furniture.
Van Cleef and Arpels and Junichi Hakose (b. 1955), Araiso U brooch, France and Japan, 2007, raised white gold, gold beads, eggshell lacquer on mother-of-pearl support on white gold, round-cut diamonds.
Cooper Hewitt’s four curatorial departments (Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design; Product Design and Decorative Arts; Textiles; and Wallcoverings) oversee one of the most diverse design collections in existence: more than 210,000 objects that span 30 centuries. The core collection was formed between the late 19th and early 20th century by the museum’s founders, Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt, who conceived it as a “practical working laboratory,” a “visual library” where students and designers could be inspired by actual objects. In addition to furniture, metalwork, glass, ceramics, jewelry, woodwork, textiles, and wallcoverings, the museum has one of the largest collections of drawings and prints in the United States, spanning the fields of architecture, advertising, fashion, theater, and interior design. The thrust of the collection has always been history, innovation, process, technique, use, and social context more than masterpieces. The current collecting focus has shifted to contemporary objects, bolstering the American holdings, and acquiring major historical pieces.
Sidewall, USA, 1920–30, machine-printed on paper.
Feathers, Alexander Girard (American), 1957.
Chair, Charles Eames (American), 1944.
AT A GLANCE
With a focus on educating, inspiring, and empowering people through design, Cooper Hewitt offers exhibitions, educational programming, digital initiatives, and an on-site master’s program, all of which explore the process of historic and contemporary design. The museum’s four floors occupy the landmark Andrew Carnegie Mansion on Museum Mile in New York City. The grounds include the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden, the city’s largest private garden.
Just inside the main entrance
Private and self-guided tours for groups of ten or more are available by reservation at 212-849-8351; public tours, offered twice daily, are free with admission.
The SHOP features significant design objects from around the world and focuses on American designers. Offerings reflect the museum’s design philosophy, mission, and collection and include items related to current exhibitions.
Cooper Hewitt’s café offers a seasonal menu and a variety of coffees, pastries, and artisanal wines. Seating is available indoors and outdoors in the adjoining Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden. Like the garden, the café is open to the public, free of charge, beginning at 8:00 A.M. weekdays.
Cooper Hewitt’s extensive educational programs include activities for all ages, from public lectures to hands-on workshops. Design in the Classroom introduces thinking about design to underserved schoolchildren in New York City and across the nation, and Design Field Trips bring students into the museum to explore current exhibitions. In association with Parsons School of Design, the museum also offers an on-site master’s program in the history of design and curatorial studies.
The Smithsonian Design Library’s 90,000 volumes—including 10,000 rare books on ornament, architecture, and decorative arts—is an unparalleled resource for design and decorative arts materials from the Renaissance to the present. The library is open by appointment.
Henry van de Velde (1863–1957), designer, Tropon est l’aliment le plus concentre, 1898, lithograph on wove paper, lined.
