The Library Is Open: Queer Texts and the Designers Who Enabled Them
Design intersects in countless ways with other creative disciplines. Some intersections that are particularly symbiotic are book and graphic design with writing and literature. Form follows function,...
View ArticleOur Search for Symbols, 2024
Written by Adriana Burkins A bright orange or yellow triangle may cause you to pause, while a black line in the shape of a ribbon may cause you to reflect. The simplest visual elements—line, shape, and...
View ArticleA Closer Look: Displaying a Medical Model
Written by Jody Hanson Accompanying the exhibition Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, Cooper Hewitt’s conservators offer a closer look into the process of preparing collection objects...
View ArticleSymbols as Synecdoche: Creating Community Identity
Written by Uttara Nanavati Few experiences are as gratifying as witnessing archival material transform into a compelling exhibition. In the fall of 2022, I had the remarkable opportunity to do just...
View ArticleHow to Sell a Heater During a Revolution
DESIGNS FOR STOVES IN ANTIQUE AND MODERN FORMS INVENTED AND PRODUCED BY OLLIVIER’S MANUFACTORY FROM THE DECLOUX COLLECTION Fig. 1 & Fig. 2 – Bound Plates, PIED-D’ESTAL surmonté d’un trépied dans le...
View ArticleA Closer Look: What Fun Is a Font if You Can’t Play with It?
Written by Jessica Walthew with Andrea Lipps Accompanying the exhibition Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, Cooper Hewitt’s conservators offer a closer look into the process of preparing...
View ArticleAutumn in New York
The jazz greats like Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra sang it best: autumn in New York really does seem so inviting. And as the breeze cools and the leaves begin to turn, it felt like the appropriate...
View ArticleFrom Idea to Engraving: Stradanus and the Printmaking Process
Jan van der Straet, also known as Stradanus, was a late-Renaissance Flemish artist who spent most of his successful career in Italy, where he designed works—including paintings and tapestries—for the...
View ArticleWe Are Seated: Tschabalala Self’s “Sounding Board”
“A chair always implies a figure, even if no figure is occupying it.” —Tschabalala Self Artist Tschabalala Self received a commission from the Performa 2021 Biennial and wrote, directed, and designed...
View ArticleWomen in Costume Design
Broadway! Opera! Shakespeare! Hollywood! Drama! Across the performing arts, costume design is integral to the shaping and perception of a character. Costumes can help transport performers and audiences...
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