Cooper Hewitt Names Ten Winners Across Disciplines in National Design Awards
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has named the winners of the 2018 National Design Awards, recognizing design excellence and innovation in 10 categories. The annual program promotes design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world and is accompanied by extensive educational programs in cities nationwide. “All ten of this year’s winners present a powerful design perspective and body of work that is at once inclusive and deeply personal, accompanied by great achievement, humanity and social impact,” said Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt.
School of Visual Arts posters for the New York City subway, designed using a quote supplied by the college’s executive vice president, Anthony P. Rhodes, to celebrate President Obama’s call to greatness (New York, New York, 2009). Project partner: Terry Allen (illustrator). Photo: Courtesy of Gail Anderson
Anderson has coauthored thirteen books with design historian Steven Heller, including Type Tells Tales, The Graphic Design Idea Book, New Vintage Type, and the upcoming Type Speaks. Photo: Courtesy of Gail Anderson
Of particular note to the graphic design community, Gail Anderson is recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Currently creative director at Visual Arts Press, SVA’s inhouse design studio, and a partner at Anderson Newton Design, Anderson has excelled as a designer, writer and educator, co-authored 14 books on design and popular culture, lectured internationally, and received numerous awards from the likes of AIGA, Society of Illustrators, Society of Publication Designers, Type Directors Club, Art Directors Club, Graphis, and Communication Arts. In addition, her work is included in the permanent collections of the Cooper Hewitt, Library of Congress, and the Milton Glaser Design Archives at SVA. She has been featured in magazines that include Computer Arts (UK), designNET (Korea), kAk (Russia), and on the January 2010 cover of GDUSA.
United States Postal Service postage stamp, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The final stamp was laid out at Americaís oldest working letterpress, Hatch Show Print, using period-appropriate typefaces (2013). Project partners: Antonio Alcal· (art director); Jim Sherraden (printer). Photo: Courtesy of Gail Anderson
Spread from Cash, a book designed by Andersonís team at SpotCo for Jason Fine at Rolling Stone shortly after Johnny Cashís passing. Project partners: the Cash family, Sam Eckersley, Bashan Aquart, Darren Cox, Jessica Disbrow, editors and writers from Rolling Stone. Published by Crown Publishers (2004).
Pictured Top: Spread from Rolling Stone celebrating a young Chris Rock in full Jimi Hendrix mode, one of close to 500 feature stories and 300 covers Anderson worked on during her 14 years at the magazine under art director Fred Woodward (October 2, 1997). Project partner: Mark Seliger (photographer). Photo: Courtesy of Gail Anderson
In addition to Anderson, the National Design Awards winners are:
Communication Design: Civilization
Civilization was founded by Michael Ellsworth, Corey Gutch and Gabriel Stromberg in Seattle. Since the studio’s inception in 2007, it has built identity systems, digital experiences, printed materials, environmental graphics and exhibitions that are engaging , empathetic, sustainable and create meaningful connection.
Take Action poster series wheatpasted around cities nationwide. Available for download from the Shout Your Abortion website (2016). Photo: Courtesy of Civilization
Social Medium exhibition identity at the Frye Museum (Seattle, Washington, 2014). Photo: Courtesy of Civilization
Design Mind: Anne Whiston Spirn
Spirn is an award-winning author, landscape architect, photographer and the Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning at MIT in Cambridge MA. Her writings and action research provoke the integration of city and nature, advancing design theory and practice, and transforming how people see and act.
The Granite Garden, a book that touched off the ecological urbanism movement, according to the American Planning Association, which lists it as one of the most important books of the past century. The book presents, synthesizes, and applies knowledge from many disciplines to show how cities are part of the natural world and to demonstrate how they can be planned and designed in concert with natural processes rather than in conflict (1984, Basic Books; e-version, expected 2019).
Stills from Buried River, Opened Lives: Reflections on People, Place, and Practice, a series of short multimedia videos where Spirn served as the director and in which participants in the West Philadelphia Landscape Project tell their own stories: reflecting on then and now, and on the impact the project has had on their lives (2013-2014). Photo: Courtesy of Anne Whiston Spirn
Architecture Design: Weiss/Manfredi
Founded by Marion Weiss and Michael A. Manfredi, the firm seeks to expand the territory of architecture by connecting landscape, art, infrastructure and architecture. The firm’s projects, including the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Visitor Center, Penn’s Nanotechnology Center, Cornell Tech’s Tata Innovation and the US Embassy in New Delhi, fuse architecture and nature.
Seattle Art Museum: Olympic Sculpture Park integrates art, architecture, infrastructure, and ecology in a new model for urban sculpture park. The continuous landform connects a museum pavilion, two bridges, site specific collaborations with world renowned artists, and a waterfront beach with a restored salmon habitat (Seattle, Washington, 2007). Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
Barnard College Diana Center, a creative arts building that links a series of diagonally interconnected double-height public spaces. Extending the campus lawn upward through the building, the Diana Center creates a luminous lens on the campus and the city (New York, New York, 2010). Photo: Albert Ve?erka/Esto
Fashion Design: Christina Kim
Kim is the co-founder and designer of dosa, an LA-based clothing, accessories and housewares company with a focus on rethinking conventional fashion-industry production and sustaining artisan cultures. In-house production enables an evolving system for efficient use of natural resources, recycling and creative reuse. Kim draws on traditional handwork techniques, particularly in India, Mexico and Colombia, engaging local artisans and communities in long-term collaborations.
dosa x We Kiss, an installation of We Kiss shawls and handmade pieces in a range of pinks at Tiina the Store (Amagansett, New York, 2017). Project partners: Tiina Laakkonen; Kathy Klein. Photo: Tiina Laakonen
Life of Jamdani, 5% waste Indian muslin textile making (India and Los Angeles, California, 2003–ongoing). Project partners: Rajka Designs; Devi Export. Photo: Mark Schooley
Interaction Design: Neri Oxman
Oxman is an architect, designer, inventor and professor at MIT, where she is the founding director of The Mediated Matter Group, an experimental design practice. The group combines commissioned work with scientific research, exploring ways in which digital design and production techniques can enhance the relationship between built and natural environments, operating at the intersection of computational design, robotic fabrication, materials engineering and synthetic biology.
Fiber Pavilion, a prototype structure autonomously fabricated by 16 fiber winding robots over the course of two days at the MIT Media Lab (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2017). In collaboration with The Mediated Matter Group, MIT Media Lab. Photo: Courtesy of Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group
Mushtari, a 3D printed wearable that can change color, create food, and produce biological tissues, such as insulation for the body, designed to enable human survival on distant planets and environments. Part of the Wanderers series, the wearable skin combines a continuous internal network of biocompatible fluidic channels with variable optical transparency through the use of bitmap-based multi-material additive manufacturing (2015). Project partners: The Mediated Matter Group, MIT Media Lab; Stratasys, Ltd. Photo: Yoram Reshef. Courtesy of Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group
Interior Design: Oppenheim Architecture + Design
Founded in 1999 by Chad Oppenheim, Oppenheim Architecture + Design is an architecture, planning and interior design firm specializing in hospitality, commercial and mixed-use, retail and residential buildings worldwide. The firm creates spaces that evoke the senses, catering to both pleasure and performance. Inspiration is drawn from vernacular styles and local resources are asserted with minimal gesture.
ENEA Headquarters, designed to demonstrate respect towards the elements of nature at the site (Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland, 2010). Photo: Martin R¸tschi
La Muna, a private residence with minimal impact on natural resources that effortlessly merges with its surroundings (Aspen, Colorado, 2011). Photo: Laziz Hamani
Landscape Architecture: Mikyoung Kim Design
Kim is the founding principal of Mikyoung Kim Design, an international landscape architecture and urban design firm. Over the past two decades, the firm has crafted an award-winning body of work that redefines the discipline of landscape architecture and inhabits the intersection of art and science. Its projects solve challenging urban resiliency issues while always considering the unique character of place making.
Farrar Pond Garden, situated within a three-acre native hardwood forest overlooking Farrar Pond. The design seeks to harmonize contemporary materials and design elements with a native plant palette and natural kettle and kame geology. The sculptural Cor-Ten fence flows through openings in the forest, both defining and blurring boundaries (Lincoln, Massachusetts, 2009). Project partner: Schwartz Silver Architects. Photo: Christopher Baker
ChonGae River Restoration Project, a regenerative, seven-mile green corridor provides resiliency to the hydrological systems of the city. The river source point is a symbolic cultural representation of the future reunification of North and South Korea within a highly active public plaza, framed by local stone from each of the nine provinces of North and South Korea (Seoul, Korea, 2009). Project partner: SeoAhn Total Landscape. Photo: Robert Such
Product Design: Blu Dot
Blu Dot was founded in 1997 by friends John Christakos, Maruice Blanks and Charlie Lazor. Their mission is to design and manufacture furniture that is useful, affordable and brings good design to as many people as possible. Recognized for its inventive use of materials, fabrication technology and assembly methods, Blu Dot produces furniture that is determined by an economy of means while maintaining a playful sensibility.
Dang Collection, contemporary consoles and media stands featuring perforated steel door fronts that enable the use of remotes without compromising the design (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2011). Photo: Dan Monick
Hot Mesh Chair, featuring powder-coated steel that creates a bold graphic pattern inspired by handwoven rattan and a simple, stackable tubular frame that maintains the clarity of form (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012). Photo: Dan Monick
Corporate & Institutional Achievement: Design for America
Design for America is a national network of innovators working together to improve their local communities through design. Begun as the brainchild of Northwestern University faculty member Liz Gerber, Gerber saw how design could be used to bring new solutions to seemingly intractable social issues. The network has tackled hundreds of challenges, ranging from accessible health care to drinkable water, and has inspired students, educators and design professionals across the country.
Jerry the Bear, an interactive companion to help children with type 1 diabetes understand how to take ownership of a complex disease. The idea was developed by Aaron Horowitz and Hannah Chung while students in Design for America at Northwestern in response to a DFA project focused on children with type 1 diabetes. Jerry comes with eight injection sites, a sticker to attach a virtual insulin pump, and educational augmented reality games to play on a free mobile application (2009–present). Project partner: Sproutel. Photo: Courtesy of Sproutel
Illumiloon, a low-tech, floating communication device that shows a signal for help without power or the Internet. The project was designed by students in the Design for America studio at Yale in response to Hurricane Sandy and Blizzard Nemo to address the social challenges around natural disasters (New Haven, Connecticut, 2014ñpresent). Project partners: Federal Emergency Management Agency; Field Innovation Team. Photo: Courtesy of Illumiloon
