Unveiling the Built Environment: Cooper Hewitt Reimagines the National Design Collection with Design Across Time

NEW YORK — In a landmark presentation that breaks down traditional chronological barriers to offer a deeply interconnected view of human creativity, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has officially unveiled its permanent collection galleries. Titled Design Across Time: Exploring the Smithsonian’s Design Collection, the multi-year exhibition transforms the first floor of the museum’s historic Carnegie Mansion into an expansive landscape of material culture.

The exhibition showcases a carefully curated selection of 125 works drawn from the museum’s staggering repository of more than 215,000 objects. Spanning six continents and thirty centuries, the installation breathes new life into the national collection. It features significant works newly brought out of storage, recent acquisitions making their public debut, and canonical touchstones of both American and global design history.

Rather than treating design as a sequence of isolated historical periods, Design Across Time is rooted in a foundational premise: that design is everywhere, serves an essential civic purpose, and involves everyone. From minute everyday objects to massive infrastructure systems, humanity exists as an active participant and expert user of the built environment.

Main Facts: Inside the Landmark Exhibition

At its core, Design Across Time is designed to challenge how museumgoers consume design history. Organized into six thematic clusters representing diverse approaches in the creative process, the layout eschews standard timelines in favor of conceptual groupings.

The exhibition environment itself is a masterclass in modern spatial curation. Designed by JA Projects with graphic design by Pacific, the layout begins with an introductory concentration of objects anchored in the museum’s central gallery. From there, the presentation extends outward through two dramatic axis vitrines that cut across the sequence of first-floor galleries. The display blends a rich palette of textures from traditional and contemporary materials, leaning heavily on a graphic system of collection-object silhouettes.

Visitors will encounter a staggering diversity of objects that cross geographical and temporal lines. Highlights range from an ancient Egyptian lotus-shaped cup dating back to circa 1100 BCE to Aurifero II (2023), a recent vessel by American glass artist Toots Zynsky crafted from fused and thermo-formed glass threads.

Other notable works on view include:

• Late 18th-century Chalice Designs: Ink and wash on paper by Italian designer Giuseppe Barberi (1746–1809).
• Noh Theater Costume (Japan, c. 1800): A striking silk metallic brocade gifted by Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
• Tone Vigeland’s Nail Necklace (1983): An avant-garde Norwegian piece crafted from steel, gold, silver, and mother-of-pearl.
• The Royal Jewel Cabinet (1825–26): Produced by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory in France, utilizing mahogany, platinum, glass, bronze, gold, hard-paste porcelain, and vitreous enamel.
• Malcolm X Film Poster (1992): Designed by Art Sims of 11:24 Design.
• Harlem Toile de Jouy Wallpaper (2006): Designed by Sheila Bridges and manufactured by Studio Printworks.
• Anywhere Lamp (1951): Designed by Greta von Nessen and manufactured by Nessen Studios.
• Style Stiletto Textile (2011): Designed by Marjo Penninx and manufactured by Vlisco using wax-resist printing on cotton.
• Roping Stool (Designed 2011, Made 2017): Created by Stephen Burks from rope and textile industry waste.
• A Very Large Nazuna Vase (2016): Molded, carved, and hand-built porcelain by Hitomi Hosono.
• Videosphere Model 3240 Portable Television (1970): Created by the Victor Company of Japan.
• Bungee Digital Typeface (2011–16): Created by David Jonathan Ross.

Chronology: A Legacy of Collecting and Public Access

Cooper Hewitt’s journey to this moment is deeply intertwined with the history of American design stewardship.

• 1897: The museum begins collecting design under the vision of founders Eleanor, Sarah, and Amy Hewitt. Over the subsequent decades, the collection swells to encompass product design, architecture, graphic design, fashion, textiles, wallcoverings, and digital and interaction design—spanning everything from rough sketches and prototypes to finished products.
• 2026 (Summer & Fall): Following extensive planning, conservation, and curatorial coordination, Design Across Time opens to the public at the Carnegie Mansion. The launch is paired with a robust public program series titled Making the Museum, kicking off on October 21 with a keynote panel featuring architect Elizabeth Diller and curators Brendan Cormier and Catherine Ince discussing the V&A East Storehouse.
• October 29, 2026: The curatorial team hosts an exclusive in-depth conversation exploring how the major new installation was conceptualized, from shaping its central thematic clusters to choosing objects from storage.
• Late 2026 and Beyond: Throughout the multi-year lifespan of Design Across Time, the museum plans to introduce periodic rotations of objects, ensuring that repeat visitors encounter fresh perspectives from the Smithsonian’s vast holdings.

Supporting Data and Institutional Frameworks

Bringing a collection of 215,000+ objects into a cohesive, accessible public installation requires immense institutional collaboration. Design Across Time is organized by a formidable curatorial team featuring Matilda McQuaid, Acting Curatorial Director; Susan Brown, Acting Head of Textiles; Emily Orr, Acting Head of Product Design and Decorative Arts; and Julie Pastor, Curatorial Assistant. Their work is backed by the museum’s conservation, registrar, exhibitions, and director’s offices.

Funding and Philanthropy

The exhibition is made possible through major support from Jon and Shigemi Iwata, as well as Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer. Additional generous backing has been provided by:

• Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee
• The Lily Auchincloss Foundation
• The Terra Foundation for American Art
• The Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation
• Irene Au and Bradley Horowitz
• Chris and Irma Fralic

Crucially, the project received funding from the Smithsonian’s "Our Shared Future: 250," a nationwide initiative supported by private philanthropy. Created to commemorate the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary, the initiative seeks to advance the Smithsonian’s vision for the next quarter-millennium by connecting historical heritage with contemporary innovation.

Official Responses and Curatorial Philosophy

Museum leadership and curators have emphasized that Design Across Time is fundamentally about democratizing access to design history.

"Cooper Hewitt’s collection is a public resource that belongs to all," museum representatives noted in a joint statement. By removing strict chronological framing, the institution aims to spark intuitive connections among viewers, prompting them to see the threads that bind ancient craftsmanship to contemporary digital creation.

The inclusion of interactive public programming—such as the How We Make workshop series featuring designers like Fan Kong (exploring bioplastics and bioglass), Gina Gregorio (exploring repeating patterns), and Jennifer June (focusing on modular wall storage)—further underscores the museum’s commitment to education. These workshops directly bridge the gap between passive observation and active creation, allowing visitors to engage with the principles underlying the exhibition.

Implications: Redefining the Role of the Modern Design Museum

As cultural institutions worldwide grapple with how to store, display, and contextualize massive historical collections, Cooper Hewitt’s Design Across Time offers a compelling blueprint.

By utilizing flexible, thematic clustering rather than traditional linear storytelling, the museum avoids the trap of treating design history as a finished narrative. Instead, it positions design as an ongoing, living dialogue between human needs, material availability, and technological evolution.

Furthermore, the museum has placed a heavy emphasis on inclusivity and universal access. Image descriptions are readily available via the exhibition’s accessibility webpage and large-print label booklets within the galleries. Compatible in-gallery digital interactives feature full screen-reader capabilities, ensuring that visitors of all abilities can navigate the space.

Whether through exploring the ancient roots of ceramic production via an Egyptian lotus-shaped cup or examining modern digital typefaces like David Jonathan Ross’s Bungee, visitors to the Carnegie Mansion are invited to rethink their daily relationship with the objects around them. Design Across Time is not merely an exhibition of things; it is an exploration of how humanity shapes its world—and how that world, in turn, shapes humanity.

To enhance your visit, the Bloomberg Connects guide provides digital insights from exhibition experts online and in-app. For details on upcoming workshops, curator-led tours, and ticketing, visit the official Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum website.