Dec

The new Cooper Hewitt experience

Caroline Baumann, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum

Caroline Baumann, director of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, recently sat down with Allan Chochinov of the design blog Core 77 to talk about the museum’s grand reopening on Dec. 12 following a three-year renovation. She elaborated on how the historic Carnegie Mansion in New York has been reconditioned to accommodate the collections of the nation’s premier design museum and hinted at the exciting changes in store. Read the full interview at Core 77.

A high-tech device that resembles the most basic tool of design, the Pen is a key part of the new Cooper Hewitt experience. Given at admission, it enables every visitor to collect objects from around the galleries and create their own designs on interactive tables. At the end of a visit the Pen is returned and all the objects collected or designed by the visitor are accessible online through a unique web address printed on every ticket. These can be shared online and stored for later use in subsequent visits. (Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum)

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will reopen to the public on Friday, December 12, with several special exhibitions—from the story of the museum’s eponymous founders to new interactive galleries—alongside the first long-term survey of the Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection. Designers may be particularly interested to visit Tools: Extending Our Reach, spanning some 1.5 million years from handaxes to 3D printers, and Beautiful Users, curated by Ellen Lupton and dedicated to the memory of Bill Moggridge; learn more here.