fastcompany.com
What deserves to be in a design
museum?
Grace Snelling
5–7 minutes
At the entrance of the Cooper Hewitt design museum’s latest
exhibition, Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection,
two objects sit side-by-side. One is a 3D-printed model of a
coronavirus particle, 2020; the other is a turquoise lotus-
shaped cup, circa 1100 BCE, from Egypt—the oldest object
in the museum’s collection.
Lotus-shaped Cup (Egypt), ca. 1100 BCE and Model of the
COVID-19 Coronavirus, 2020 [Photo: © Smithsonian
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
1 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
Institution]
“It brings together two things that are separated by centuries
and centuries of history,” says Maria Nicanor, director of the
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, in New York,
and one of the exhibition’s lead organizers. “You imagine
everything that has happened in between one and the other,
but also what unites them. Both of them are design—both of
them have had a meaning to a culture and a functionality,
and both have helped you understand a particular moment
in history.”
[Photo: Elliot Goldstein/© Smithsonian Institution]
As the country’s only museum dedicated exclusively to
historical and contemporary design, the Cooper Hewitt has
been curating objects that reflect the current moment for the
past 127 years. Acquired! features more than 150 works
added to the museum’s permanent collection since 2017,
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
2 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
highlighting how curators currently view the design world—
and how those views have changed over time.
Jay Sae Jung Oh, Savage Chair (raw edition 2021) [Photo:
Matt Flynn/© Smithsonian Institution]
According to Nicanor, the museum’s early years were
heavily focused on design from a decorative point of view:
Its four original departments were textiles, wall coverings,
prints and graphic design, and product design and
decorative arts. While those categories remain relevant, the
definition of design doesn’t have to be rigid, Nicanor
explains.
“I am interested in a very expansive definition of design that
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
3 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
takes into account aesthetics and functionality, but also
systems,” she says. “For me, I’m as interested in an 18th
century teacup as I am in highway infrastructure for the
whole entire country—both things are designed.”
[Photo: Elliot Goldstein/© Smithsonian Institution]
Nicanor’s inclusive definition highlights how design is made
for and by everyone, not just the ultra-wealthy. One major
theme of the Acquired! exhibition is a transition away from
the decorative perspective of 19th century curators—which
would have primarily included objects that were inaccessible
to the middle and lower classes—and toward a perspective
that sees design in everyday objects. “If you think about it,
from the moment that you wake up to the moment that you
go to bed, you’ve been touched by a series of design
systems, none of which are neutral, and all of which have
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
4 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
affected your day and have made you feel better or worse,”
she says.
[Photo: Elliot Goldstein/© Smithsonian Institution]
Another goal of Acquired! is to look “at details that were
perhaps ignored by history, and then [reinterpret] them,”
says Nicanor, which also means reexamining the museum’s
own curation practices. Since 2017, Cooper Hewitt has
acquired works including a series of posters by Jésus Ruiz
Durand on the agrarian reform movement in Peru, Faith
Ringgold’s 1971 Black feminist poster, and a contemporary
police body camera that reflects calls for police reform
during the Black Lives Matter movement. These examples
demonstrate how design often cannot be divorced from
activism and politics.
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
5 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
Faith Ringgold, Woman Free Yourself, 1971 [Photo: Matt
Flynn/© Smithsonian Institution]
“We talk a lot about activism and labor practices, we talk
about new materials and sustainability, we talk about the
impact of design on climate change,” says.
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
6 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
[Photo: Elliot Goldstein/© Smithsonian Institution]
A new definition of design
While Cooper Hewitt has retained its original four
departments, the disciplines that fit within each have grown
significantly, with some new objects not fitting so neatly at
all. In March 2023, the museum added an entirely new
section to its holdings: the digital department. Curators have
been hard at work acquiring everything from articles and
websites to emojis and apps.
One powerful digital acquisition is a video called The
Substitute. The work depicts a white rhinoceros whose real-
life counterpart, Sudan, was the last male northern white
rhino, and he died in 2018—bringing his subspecies to the
brink of extinction. As computer-generated Sudan paces
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
7 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
around his sterile white room, growling and grunting, he
slowly becomes more and more pixelated. At the end, he’s
an unrecognizable glitching mass of brown squares. The
work is a heart-wrenching exploration of animal extinction
that interrogates the human role in the loss of the species as
well as the scientists who are currently attempting to
“resurrect” the white rhino.
For Nicanor, pieces like The Substitute help to dispel the
idea that design is merely an aesthetic exercise. That theme
serves as a through line across Acquired!, helping visitors
derive deeper meaning from beautiful images and objects.
“There’s definitely an interest in artistry and craftsmanship
and the aesthetic value of [design],” says Nicanor. “But more
and more, there are other beliefs and stories that are behind
these objects which are more important for the way that we
think right now.”
Recognize your technological breakthrough by applying to
this year’s Next Big Things in Tech Awards before the final
deadline, July 12.
Sign up for Next Big Things in Tech Awards notifications
here.
The Cooper Hewitt on what makes an object worthy of collecting – Fas… about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fastcompany.com%2F9112…
8 of 8 7/8/24, 12:52 PM
