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Design Blog Design Blog » National Design Awards

Slideshow: Celebrating Design at the White House

Celebrating Design at the White House On Monday, July 14, Mrs. Laura Bush hosted the winners and finalists of the 2008 National Design Awards at a brunch reception at the White House. For members of the Museum’s staff, this event is one of the most anticipated and enjoyable experiences of the year, giving us a chance to personally meet and congratulate the amazing designers who are honored that day.

The highlight of the event is a presentation by the current First Lady. Mrs. Bush is beautiful, poised, and articulate. She’s also funny, telling us how in 1776, the Continental Congress asked Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson to create a new national seal; that process was design-by-committee in the worst way, taking six years to complete. Today, Mrs. Bush explained, the White House knows to hire a design professional to do design work.

And design professionals were there that day in abundance—some of the best in the world, from Lifetime Achievement winner Charles Harrison, who designed products in-house at Sears for over thirty years, to all six principals of Olin Partnership, winner in the Landscape Design category. These great designers will be honored again at a gala dinner at Cooper-Hewitt on October 23, 2008.

Video: Boym Partners at GlassLab

Constantin and Laurene Boym of Boym Partners, a New York-based design studio, collaborated with GlassLab which set up shop last month in Cooper-Hewitt’s garden. Boym Partners, finalists for the 2008 National Design Award for Product Design, bring a playful, experimental approach to product design. Watch the video below to see them in action.

Watch this video in high quality

You can find more Cooper-Hewitt videos on YouTube and on our Video page.

2008 National Design Awards

2008 National Design Awards

On May 8 Cooper-Hewitt announced the winners and finalists of the ninth annual National Design Awards. Each year the Awards recognize excellence, innovation, and public impact across a variety of disciplines, including architecture, communications, fashion, interior, landscape, and product design. We invite you to share your feedback on this year’s winners and finalists.

2008 Winners and Finalists


Lifetime Achievement
Winner: Charles Harrison

Corporate Achievement
Winner: Google
Finalists: JetBlue and OXO

Design Mind
Winner: Michael Bierut
Finalists: Bruce Nussbuam and Michael Sorkin

Architecture Design
Winner: Tom Kundig
Finalists: LOT-EK and Weiss/Manfredi

Communications Design
Winner: Scott Stowell
Finalists: Stephen Doyle and Prologue Films

Fashion Design
Winner: Ralph Rucci
Finalists: Thom Browne and Zac Posen

Interior Design
Winner: Rockwell Group
Finalists: Deborah Berke & Partners and Diane Lewis

Landscape Design
Winner: Olin Partnership
Finalists: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol and Stoss Landscape Urbanism

Product Design
Winner: Antenna Design
Finalists: Boym Partners and Karim Rashid

Nominate Online


Each year Cooper-Hewitt honors the best and brightest designers at the National Design Awards Gala. The awards are given out in a number of categories including fashion design, architecture design, and product design.

This year we invite you to nominate who should be honored at the 2008 National Design Awards. Participate online at http://nominate.cooperhewitt.org.

Also, be sure to check out past winners and finalists by visiting the National Design Awards website or watch this year’s winners discuss their work at the National Design Awards Winners Panel.

The deadline is December 14 so we look forward to hearing from you soon!