The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum has launched a new section of its website that features a new collection work daily and draws from more than 217,000 objects spanning 30 centuries in four curatorial departments - Drawings, Prints and Graphic Design, Product Design and Decorative Arts, Textiles and Wallcoverings-and the National Design Library. Object of the Day is designed to foster ongoing engagement with Cooper-Hewitt's collection while the museum is undergoing renovation.
The website section features original blog post entries written by staff curators, conservators, educators, as well as design enthusiasts-from teen design scholars to museum docents and Master's students from the History of Decorative Arts and Design program. The blog format allows curators to offer a more personal, narrative approach to the objects. Works have been grouped thematically during the year and are posted on relevant holidays, milestones and anniversaries.
"Object of the Day is critical to Cooper-Hewitt's mission of advancing the public understanding of design and is integral to an institutional campaign to inspire and encourage participation with the museum's resources leading up to and beyond the reopening," commented Caroline Baumann, acting director of Cooper-Hewitt. "Object of the Day is one of many ways the museum is reaching our audiences during the renovation, including the Cooper-Hewitt Design Center in Harlem and traveling exhibitions from Portland to Paris."