Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Awards; Events on the Mall

A 10th anniversary is at hand. The Cooper-Hewitt's much vaunted National Design Awards turns 10. To celebrate, the New York City-based museum is bringing to Washington, D.C., a number of free public programs, featuring guest appearances from some of this year's award winners, design mavens such as Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa and Bill Moggridge of the smart global design studio IDEO. Look for opportunities to meet with the designers between 10 AM to 11 AM on Friday, July 24 at various Smithsonian museums around the Mall and a number of others throughout the city.

• Francisco Costa, this year's Fashion Design winner, and Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown, this year's Interior Design winners, will talk about the function of materials in their work at the Corcoran College of Art & Design. Costa, currently the creative director of the Calvin Klein Collection for women, has worked with such design houses as Gucci and Oscar de la Renta. Tsao and Mckown are the partners of TsAO & McKOWN Architects, a firm known for blending architecture and interior design. Free, but registration is required at www.corcoran.org.
• Architecture and Landscape are much more than buildings and trees. Design has the power to influence communities. Walter Hood, Landscape Design winner, and Gregg Pasquarelli, of Architecture Design winner, SHoP Architects, will talk about how design can unite, create and transform communities at the National Building Museum. SHoP Architects has incorporated software design and branding into their projects worldwide. Hood designs based on the people and the location to ensure spaces are stable and functional. Free, but registration is required at www.nbm.org.
• Current events can influence a lot, and design is no exception. This year's winners in Product Design, Boym Partners, and in Communication Design, The New York Times Graphic Department, use current events in two very different ways. The Boym Partners, whose work is featured in the Museum of Modern Art, humorously interpret current events while the Graphics Department has to quickly understand and distill the information. Hear the Boym Partners and Steve Duenes, The Time's graphics director, discuss their influences at the Smithsonian Castle.
• This year's award winners in Interaction Design, Perceptive Pixel Inc., and in Corporate and Institutional Achievement, Minnesota's Walker Art Center, are design leaders. In the 2008 election, major networks used interactive mapping technology created by Perceptive Pixel Inc. The Walker Art Center features an in-house design studio that has won more than 100 awards. Jeff Han, founder of Perceptive Pixel, and Andrew Blauvelt, curator and design director of the Walker Art Center, will talk about the future of interaction design relating to technology creation and its place in museums at the Hirshhorn Museum.
• Amory Lovins, this year's Design Mind winner, and Bill Moggridge, this year's Lifetime Achievement recipient will discuss the future of technology and sustainability at the National Museum of the American Indian. Lovins co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute and has been a prominent voice in sustainable thinking for decades. Moggridge co-founded IDEO, a global design consulting firm, and helped design what many consider the first laptop computer, the GRiD Compass.

See the designers' works in this photo gallery.

Abby Callard | | READ MORE

Abby Callard is an assistant editor at Milwaukee Magazine.