Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, opened its permanent collection galleries on June 26, for a multi-year presentation titled “Design Across Time: Exploring the Smithsonian’s Design Collection.” Located in Manhattan throughout the first floor of the Carnegie Mansion, the exhibition is scheduled for an extended two-year display. The presentation features a curated selection of works drawn from the national design collection, which is entirely devoted to design.

The installation brings together more than 125 works across multiple design disciplines, including product design, graphic design, fashion, textiles, digital design, wallcoverings, and architecture. Museum director Maria Nicanor noted that the public resource is largely kept in storage, making this extended presentation an effort to expand public access to the repository of ideas. The display will feature rotations of objects throughout its duration, showcasing significant historical works alongside recent acquisitions shown publicly for the first time.

JA Projects designed the installation layout, which features two large axis vitrines cutting across the sequence of first-floor galleries, while Pacific managed the graphic design. The presentation avoids traditional chronological ordering, opting instead for thematic groupings that span diverse geographies, materials, and time periods. The objects on display range from an ancient Egyptian lotus-shaped cup to a 2023 fused glass thread vessel by Toots Zynsky titled Aurifero II.

The exhibition explores the creative process through six distinct thematic clusters titled Repeat, Transform, Show Off, Simplify, Tweak, and Play. Specific pieces illustrate these concepts, such as Vlisco’s Style Stiletto textile showcasing repetition, and Stephen Burks’ Roping Stool utilizing production waste in the transformation section. Other featured items include an 1825 royal jewel cabinet from the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, a 1992 Malcolm X film poster by Art Sims, an 18th-century chalice drawing by Giuseppe Barberi, and the Bungee digital typeface.

An immersive video and sound installation by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg titled “The Substitute” is featured on the second floor as part of the museum’s digital collection. In addition to the physical gallery components, the museum plans to offer an extended lineup of talks, panels, and workshops by various designers and cultural leaders. Cooper Hewitt will also launch a redesigned online collections platform featuring artificial intelligence integration designed by Champions Design and developed by Schema Design.

The museum has integrated several accessibility features for visitors, including large-print label booklets, image descriptions on its webpage, and screen reader capabilities on in-gallery digital interactives. “Design Across Time” was organized by a curatorial team including Matilda McQuaid, Susan Brown, Emily Orr, and Julie Pastor. The exhibition is rooted in the concept that design serves a civic purpose and that all individuals are active participants in the built environment.

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