Making Design: Recent Acquisitions

Print, The Woman Taking Coffee

• engraving, etching in blue, black and red ink over gold leaf, with additional plate inked in mauve and green, à la poupeé, on off-white laid paper
• Museum purchase through gift of George A. Hearn

• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• engraving
• etching
• gilding
• chalk manner

This print by Louis-Marin Bonnet shows a fashionable woman cooling her coffee in a saucer, an elegant way to consume the beverage popular in 18th-century France. Created “in the chalk manner,” Bonnet’s colorful print uses multiple inked plates to achieve a fine quality of engraving that mimics the effect of pastel. His additional application of gold leaf to the frame creates a rich image and evokes a portrait miniature.

Poster, Botta/Cucchi, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano

• Designed by Bruno Monguzzi
• lithograph on wove paper
• Gift of Bruno Monguzzi

• depth
• architecture
• advertising
• display
• exhibition
• grid
• typography
• space

Monguzzi reinterpreted Bauhaus and constructivist asymmetrical graphics in this poster for an exhibition at the Museo Cantonale d’Arte in Lugano, Switzerland. It depicts the circular chapel plan for the Santa Maria degli Angeli. Monguzzi varied the size of the letters in “Botta,” as if stretched over a sphere, to imply architectural volume.

Drawing, Chicken Point Cabin, Hayden Lake, ID: West and South Elevations

• graphite on tracing paper
• Gift of Tom Kundig

• architects
• architecture
• home
• grid
• house
• draftsman
• cabins
• elevations
• architectural drawing

Drawing, Design for Chicken Point Cabin, Hayden Lake, Idaho: Big Window Gizmo

• graphite on heavy tracing paper
• Gift of Tom Kundig

• architects
• architecture
• home
• grid
• house
• draftsman
• cabins
• architectural drawing

Chicken Point Cabin in Hayden Lake, Idaho, is a small, year-round weekend retreat. Kundig sought to actively engage his design with the wooded, lakeside site by creating a massive 20-by-30-foot pivoting window, which recalls the opening of a tent flap. Kundig and engineer Phil Turner designed a hand-cranked device—or “gizmo”—that employs gears to pivot the window open and closed with a minimal amount of energy, so minimal that the owners’ small children could crank it.

Vegetal Chair Chair

• Designed by Ronan Bouroullec
• Manufactured by Vitra AG
• injection-molded polyamide
• Gift of Vitra

• furniture
• branches
• abstraction
• seating
• chairs
• intertwined
• lines
• chair
• intersecting

Sidewall, 1080 Cadires

• Designed by Javier Mariscal
• machine printed on paper
• Gift of Tres Tintas Barcelona

• repetition
• chairs
• All-over
• line
• orange
• abstract

The design of overlapping chairs in this sidewall is abstract in its simplicity. The slight variations in scale and line weight give the design depth. The simple manner of illustration and the composition’s density prevent any single chair from standing out, while the bright orange ground demands attention.

Drawing, Design for Vegetal Chair

• Designed by Erwan Bouroullec
• photocopy, black marking pen on white wove paper
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• furniture
• trees
• seating
• chairs
• intertwined
• vegetal
• lattice
• silhouette
• furniture designers

The Bouroullec brothers created this form compelled by the thought of a chair that would “sprout up like a plant . . . with its branches gently curving up to form the seat and back.” As this early drawing suggests, they conceived of the legs moving upward, branching out to form the seat, and meandering up again to form the back and arms. The final structure resembles an overlapping series of flattened branches that embrace the sitter.

Poster, TypeCon

• Designed by Marian Bantjes
• screenprint on paper
• Gift of Marian Bantjes

• graphic design
• arabesques
• typography
• calligraphy
• conference poster

Bantjes produced this poster to advertise the annual conference of the Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA). Bantjes played with the contour of the three-dimensional letters to achieve a decorative, calligraphic effect. Silver lines on shimmering blue paper recall architectural blueprints, reinforcing the three-dimensionality of the typographic treatment.

Poster, Le Havre, Patrimoine mondial de l’humanité [Le Havre, World Heritage of Humanity]

• Designed by Philippe Apeloig
• screenprint
• Gift of Philippe Apeloig

• architecture
• graphic design
• typography
• urban planning
• commemorative poster
• overlap

Apeloig designed this poster to commemorate the designation of the French city of Le Havre as a World Heritage Site. During World War II, Le Havre was severely bombed, and modernist architect Auguste Perret was tasked with rebuilding the city. Apeloig’s poster features graphic renditions of Perret’s standardized facades, while the text forms echo the windows in which they appear to sit.

In-Ei Mendori Lamp Lamp

• Designed by Issey Miyake
• Manufactured by Artemide S.p.A.
• recycled pet plastic, painted aluminum (base), methacrylate, led light source
• Gift of Artemide

• interior
• lighting
• clouds
• home
• collapsible
• folded
• spirals
• luminous
• convertible
• plastic
• pleats
• recycling
• recycled
• origami
• lamp
• white plastic

Miyake and his collaborators are best known for utilizing mathematics and algorithms in textile and fashion design. Their collapsible Mendori lamp is one in a series—called IN-EI (Japanese for “shadow” or “nuance”)—that explores light, recycled materials, and industrial production. The lamp starts as a flat, lobed coil that opens, accordion style, into a 3D spiral along the folds in its paper-like body.

In-Ei Mendori Lamp

• Designed by Issey Miyake
• Manufactured by Artemide S.p.A.
• recycled pet plastic, die-cast painted aluminum (base), methacrylate, led light source
• Gift of Artemide

• lighting
• domestic interiors
• triangles
• geometric
• folded
• lightweight
• white plastic

Miyake and his collaborators are best known for utilizing mathematics and algorithms in textile and fashion design. Their collapsible Mendori lamp is one in a series—called IN-EI (Japanese for “shadow” or “nuance”)—that explores light, recycled materials, and industrial production. The lamp starts as a flat, lobed coil that opens, accordion style, into a 3D spiral along the folds in its paper-like body.

Poster, 1999 Season, Ballet Tech

• Designed by Paula Scher
• screenprint on paper
• Gift of Paula Scher

• figures
• lighting
• public
• graphic design
• advertising
• exhibition
• dance
• theater
• theater poster
• performance
• clients
• feet
• rhythm
• typography
• event poster
• letters
• ballet
• dancers
• shoes
• dance audience

In this poster Scher set photographic images of 4 female dancers in identical elongated positions against the lighting-design plan used for the company’s performances at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Scher staggered the letterforms of Ballet Tech to make them appear as though they were dancing.

Textile, Pinstripe

• Designed by Elizabeth Whelan
• 82% polyester, 18% nylon
• Gift of Elizabeth Whelan

• upholstery
• textile
• seating
• offices
• grid
• line
• mesh
• ergonomics
• office workers
• stretch
• structure

This high-performance mesh was designed for Humanscale’s 2012 Diffrient World chair (designed by Niels Diffrient). The fabric provides body and lumbar support, and enough elasticity in the seat to relieve stress behind the knees. Humanscale wanted a simple floating line of color, and Whelan found her inspiration in the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Paper Porcelain Espresso Cup, Concept Model

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• cut, scored, assembled cardboard, paper tape, applied pencil line
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• paper
• sculpture
• simple
• linear

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Espresso Saucer, Concept Model

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• cut, scored, assembled cardboard, paper tape, applied pencil line
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• sculpture
• simple
• linear

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Espresso Cup, Prototype

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• slip cast, fired unglazed porcelain with added metal drill dust, applied pencil lines, applied marker or ink
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• sculpture
• simple
• linear

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Espresso Saucer, Prototype, 2009

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• slip cast, fired unglazed porcelain with added metal drill dust, applied glazed line, applied marker or ink
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• sculpture
• simple
• linear

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Coffee Cup, Prototype

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• slip cast, fired unglazed porcelain with added metal drill dust, applied pencil lines, applied marker or ink
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• sculpture
• diagonal lines
• playful
• diagonal

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Coffee Saucer, Prototype, 2009

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• slip-cast, fired unglazed porcelain with added metal drill dust, applied glazed lines, applied marker or ink
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• sculpture
• diagonal lines
• playful
• diagonal

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Tea Cup, Prototype

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• slip cast, fired unglazed porcelain with added metal drill dust, applied pencil lines, applied marker or ink
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• sculpture
• concentric
• rectangles
• linear

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Tea Saucer, Prototype, 2009

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• slip cast, fired unglazed porcelain with added metal drill dust, applied glazed lines, applied marker or ink
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• design
• display
• coffee/tea drinking
• drinking
• sculpture
• concentric
• rectangles
• linear

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Paper Porcelain Mug, Prototype

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• slip cast, fired unglazed porcelain with added metal drill dust, applied pencil lines, applied marker or ink
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• drinking
• geometric
• lines
• diagonal lines
• portable
• playful
• presentation
• revolve
• white porcelain
• diagonal

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Drawing, Designs for Paper Porcelain

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• pen and black ink, graphite, white and gold edding marking pen, copic marking pen on two sheets of cream wove paper from moleskine notebook
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• ceramics
• preparatory
• coffee/tea drinking
• tableware
• sketch
• delicate
• food
• ribbed
• sketchbook
• teacup

The Paper Porcelain tableware series was conceived as a project to translate paper models—an integral part of the designer’s process—into porcelain. Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) started by drawing to figure out forms, geometry, and color. Next, they created cut, folded, scored, and taped cardboard models, and then unglazed porcelain prototypes. To recreate the cardboard’s spotted, gray surface in the porcelain prototypes, the designers developed a specific mix of porcelain to which they added metal drill dust. Strips of paper tape on the cardboard models were recreated using ceramic glazes. Pencil lines applied by hand to the porcelain prototypes indicated the scored lines of the cardboard. The final tableware manufactured by Hay is made of molded and glazed porcelain, and faithfully mimics the spotted gray of the original cardboard and the beige “paper tape.”

Handmade Model Of Grid, Grid

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• tyvek and vilene (polyester), cotton-acetate blend
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• textile
• experimentation
• geometric
• grid
• line
• prototype
• color

These samples show the developmental stages of Grid (see finished textile behind you), which Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) either handmade in their studio or wove on industrial looms at the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. Exploring material, color, and densities of the grid, the designers adjusted their design based on these experiments.

Handmade Model Of Blocks And Grid (Netherlands)

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• paper, cotton, polyester
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• textile
• experimentation
• geometric
• grid
• line
• prototype
• color

These samples show the developmental stages of Grid (see finished textile behind you), which Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) either handmade in their studio or wove on industrial looms at the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. Exploring material, color, and densities of the grid, the designers adjusted their design based on these experiments.

Handmade Model Of Grid, Grid

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• cotton, polyester
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• textile
• experimentation
• geometric
• grid
• line
• prototype
• color

These samples show the developmental stages of Grid (see finished textile behind you), which Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) either handmade in their studio or wove on industrial looms at the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. Exploring material, color, and densities of the grid, the designers adjusted their design based on these experiments.

Handmade Model Of Blocks And Grid, Blocks and Grid

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• paper, polyester
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• textile
• experimentation
• geometric
• grid
• line
• prototype
• color

These samples show the developmental stages of Grid (see finished textile behind you), which Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) either handmade in their studio or wove on industrial looms at the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. Exploring material, color, and densities of the grid, the designers adjusted their design based on these experiments.

Industrial Model Of Grid, Blocks and Grid

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• cotton, linen, wool, acetate
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• textile
• experimentation
• geometric
• grid
• line
• prototype
• color

These samples show the developmental stages of Grid (see finished textile behind you), which Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) either handmade in their studio or wove on industrial looms at the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. Exploring material, color, and densities of the grid, the designers adjusted their design based on these experiments.

Industrial Model Of Grid, Grid

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• cotton, linen
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• textile
• experimentation
• geometric
• grid
• line
• prototype
• color

These samples show the developmental stages of Grid (see finished textile behind you), which Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) either handmade in their studio or wove on industrial looms at the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. Exploring material, color, and densities of the grid, the designers adjusted their design based on these experiments.

Industrial Model Of Grid, Blocks and Grid

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• cotton, linen
• Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund

• textile
• experimentation
• geometric
• grid
• line
• prototype
• color

These samples show the developmental stages of Grid (see finished textile behind you), which Dutch designers Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973) either handmade in their studio or wove on industrial looms at the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab in Tilburg, Netherlands. Exploring material, color, and densities of the grid, the designers adjusted their design based on these experiments.

Poster, Aeron Chair

• digital print and screenprint on paper
• Gift of Herman Miller

• furniture
• graphic design
• advertising
• seating
• sunset
• promotional poster
• logos

The Aeron chair was designed by Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick in 1992, and is ubiquitous in the contemporary workplace. Tang cleverly highlighted the unique mesh used in the chair, called Pellicle, by rendering it in shimmering gold. The striations form radiating lines against a bold sunset, echoing the weightlessness of the mesh.

Textile, Grid

• Designed by Scholten & Baijings
• 92% wool, 8% nylon
• Gift of Maharam

• interior
• upholstery
• textile
• geometric
• grid
• line
• color

Grid upholstery fabric is an exploration of color and line by Dutch designers, Stefan Scholten (b. 1972) and Carole Baijings (b. 1973). After making numerous sketches, textile studies, and samples that experimented with arrangements of parallel and perpendicular lines (see case behind you), the designers discovered how a grid can result from overlapping transparent layers and densities. The unusually long repeat of over 27 feet allowed the designers to create “individual differences within one product family.”

Thin Black Lines (21400 mm chair) Chair

• Designed by nendo
• bent and welded powder-coated steel rods
• Gift of nendo

• illusionistic
• design
• furniture
• seating
• diagonal lines
• steel
• diagonal
• linear

Pared down to its basic components, this chair is a study in outline and form. The steel rods resemble sketched lines drawn in the air—simple graphic elements that create and define surface and volume. Like an optical illusion, the chair seems to change shape, depending on the viewer’s perspective.

Poster, Spirited

• Designed by Tong Yang-Tze
• screenprint on paper
• Gift of Jianping He

• graphic design
• nature
• typography
• calligraphy

Jianping He was invited by calligrapher Tong Yang-Tze to collaborate on a work. The theme of “imitating nature” reminded He of an Einstein quote: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” The poster features a single Chinese character transformed into a unified whole through a web of thin lines extruding from the edges of the calligraphic element.

Data Visualization, Flight Patterns

• Designed by Aaron Koblin
• video made with processing, adobe after effects, maya
• Gift of Aaron Koblin

• airplanes
• digital
• flight
• colorful
• data visualization
• North America

Flight Patterns is a data visualization project that traced domestic airline traffic over North America during a single 24-hour period. Using data sets provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, flight paths were rendered as arced trajectories. The result is a stunning visual animation that elegantly renders air-traffic data as cartography.

Poster, Los Angeles, a Film by Sarah Morris

• Designed by M/M (Paris)
• screenprint on paper
• Gift of M/M (Paris)

• landscape
• graphic design
• typography
• film poster
• cityscape

Morris creates experimental films that are displayed in museums and art spaces. Each film explores a city or architectural landscape, and is announced and promoted with a poster by M/M (Paris). The poster uses the title of the film as a typographical prism through which the city’s layered, multifaceted character can be viewed.

Drawing, Step Up on Fifth: Santa Monica, CA: Sketch of Elevation

• Designed by Brooks + Scarpa
• pen and black ink, color pencil on tracing paper
• Gift of Brooks + Scarpa

• architects
• architecture
• public spaces
• grid
• urban planning
• public service
• architectural drawing

Step Up on Fifth is a 5-story, affordable-housing complex that offers support services and rehabilitation for the homeless and mentally disabled in Santa Monica. Completed in 2009 by the National Design Award–winning firm Brooks + Scarpa, the building integrates 46 studio apartments with ground-level commercial space, and nearly 75 percent of all materials used in its construction were recycled.

Drawing, Sketch of Multiple Elevations, Make It Right, New Orleans, LA

• Designed by Brooks + Scarpa
• pen and black ink on tracing paper
• Gift of Brooks + Scarpa

• architects
• architecture
• home
• house
• architectural drawing

Make It Right (MIR) is a single-family housing solution designed to address the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. The project considers solutions to rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward by integrating low-cost, off-the-shelf materials—including easily obtainable, rough-hewn wooden pallets—with an innovative design scheme.

Drawing, World Trade Center Transportation Hub, New York, NY: Sketch

• Designed by Santiago Calatrava
• watercolor and graphite on white wove paper
• Gift of Santiago Calatrava

• architects
• architecture
• public spaces
• wings
• transportation
• New York City
• urban planning
• architectural drawing
• bird
• train

In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Calatrava was chosen to build a new transit hub at the site that connected trains from New Jersey with New York City’s subway system. Plans for the train station were first unveiled in 2004, drawing immediate comparisons to Whitney Warren’s Grand Central Terminal. Calatrava’s modern steel-and-white-marble structure evokes the form of a white dove, an international symbol for peace.

Lightscape Teapot

• Designed by Ruth Gurvich
• Manufactured by Nymphenburg Porcelain Factory
• hard-paste porcelain
• Museum purchase from Charles E. Sampson Memorial Fund

• container
• design
• coffee/tea drinking
• geometric
• flattened form
• molded

Gurvich brings a novel aesthetic to the medium of ceramics by working from paper models. Translating paper as a structural material can be seen in the crease-like edges, folds, and taut surfaces in this teapot’s white porcelain body. While the look is new, the form is also surprisingly historic, since hexagonal bodies were in fashion for silver, as well as some German porcelain pots, in the early 18th century.

Book, Letter "W" from ABC3D

• cut paper
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Library; PE 1155 .B3874 2008 CHMRU

• art
• typography
• form
• movement
• book
• pop-up

Bataille is a graphic artist, illustrator, and paper engineer who trained at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. For her pop-up books, she uses numbers and letters to tell a kinetic story, rendered all the more dramatic by her reliance on minimalist color schemes.

Book, “Cubearc,” [2,3]

• Designed by Tauba Auerbach
• cut paper
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Library; fN 7433.4 .A94 B73 2010X v. 1-6 CHMRB

• art
• form
• movement
• book
• pop-up

Auerbach is a visual artist working across many disciplines, including painting, artists’ books, photography, and sculpture. The title [2,3] refers to Auerbach’s transition between 2D and 3D works. The 6 die-cut paper sculptures in this book are based on geometric forms, including the pyramid, the Möbius strip, and this ziggurat.

Book, No. 5 culture Chanel

• Designed by Irma Boom
• embossed paper
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Library; N 7433.4 .B64 N6 2013 CHMRB

• advertising
• typography
• texture
• beauty
• book
• touch
• senses

Chanel No. 5 is a cultural and a design icon. The first bottles sold in 1921 were packaged in boxes glued together in a sort of cubist collage, not unlike those made by Picasso. Boom’s book is deceivingly simple in all white, and communicates through feeling—the essence of No. 5.

Book, Madame Sonia Delaunay

• cut paper
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Library; N 6853 .D34 A4 2015 CHMNKRU

• art
• geometric
• form
• movement
• book
• color
• pop-up

This book was designed by Lo Monaco to coincide with a retrospective of the work of Sonia Delaunay at the Tate Modern in the spring of 2015. For this book, he tapped into Delaunay’s use of geometric shapes and bold colors, for which she is best known.

Book, “55, Surprise,” Visionaire

• cut paper
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Library; N 6497 .V57 2008 CHMRU

• art
• reflection
• form
• movement
• book
• reflective surface
• pop-up

Visionaire is an alternative, small-run publication based in New York. This particular issue, “55, Surprise,” was limited to 4,000 numbered copies. It consists of 11 pop-up volumes, each conceived by a different artist. This volume is entitled “Passing Winter”; the silver and white circles appear to be falling on the page, like snowflakes.

Mural, Stamp World Map

• Designed by Sir Paul Smith
• Manufactured by Maharam
• digital print on cellulose, latex, nylon substrate
• Gift of Maharam

• collage
• map
• mural
• digital print
• stamp
• rendering

Map wallpapers typically illustrate a country in topographical format and frequently highlight places of interest. The beauty of this design lies in what it doesn’t reveal. Delicately crafted, it hints of travel to foreign lands and the passion for collecting. It inspires wanderlust, and allows the viewer to peek into the adventures of others.

Sidewall, Drywall #1

• inkjet print on nylon reinforced paper
• Gift of Urs Fischer

Wallpaper frequently mimics luxe materials. In the 20th century, wallpaper began imitating more common surfaces but it remains unusual for wallpaper to simulate a lesser material like drywall. Found in most buildings, drywall is normally covered by materials deemed more appropriate to a finished interior, such as paint or wallpaper.