Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design

You would never expect a tiny place to contain such a large variety of things.  The abundance of artwork at the “Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design” provides a large enough collection to appeal to any type of audience.   Each exhibition has different inspirations⎯from watercolors to wallpaper⎯that help to diversify the museum.  Design and functionality are common themes rooted within the walls of #2 East 91st street.  Each exhibition had its own individual pros and cons, but by putting them altogether under one roof, Cooper-Hewitt has separated itself from any other museum in Manhattan.

Immediately after receiving your ticket, you are faced with the hardest decision you will have to make at Cooper-Hewitt⎯whether to turn right or left.  On the left you face the “House Proud” exhibit and on the right you face the “Curators Select”.  I urge you to steer clear of the boredom lurking behind the exhibit to the left. It was advertised as an exhibition dedicated to watercolors, but it seemed more devoted to relentless repetition.  However, if you are inclined to seeing nearly 100 pictures of almost identical living rooms, then this is the exhibit for you.  It may have been the disruptive tour group alongside us, but there was very little to keep up even the slightest interest in this exhibit.  Fortunately, I gained my first impression through a right turn rather than a left one.

As you cross into the “Curators Select” exhibit, you begin to see where the word “Design” found its way into the name of the National Museum of Design.  The exhibit revolves around innovative and practical ideas in an assortment of different objects.  From paper chairs to meat slicers, the selection of objects gave both a history of invention as well as a sensible use for these creative designs. Such interesting pieces as, “In the White Room” combined practicality with creativity.  The piece was simple: only blank pieces of paper glued to the wall as decoration.  But the shadows produced by the specifically placed sheets of paper were remarkably intriguing.  The compelling pieces in the exhibit to the right made up for all that was lacking in the left wing of the museum.

As you begin to make your way out of Cooper-Hewitt, you realize your journey is not quite over.  There happens to be a set of stairs leading to another floor, where you are further introduced to the design aspect of the “National Museum of Design”.  This time, there is no difficult decision about which direction to turn: you are practically pushed into the exhibit dedicated to affordable housing design for China residents, “Solos Tulou”.  Upon entering the room, it takes mere milliseconds to realize you are standing on a floor layout of the apartment plan.  The disturbing facts posted along the walls of the exhibit further add to the effect of the China’s affordable housing.  After looking at some pictures of the housing design, the apartments do not seem to be nearly as bad as the facts made them appear.  The Tulou exhibit guides you right into the final exhibit; but this one seems more like a child’s bedroom.

The walls of the exhibit “Wall Stories” are coated in various different samples of children’s wallpaper.  Some of the most interesting pieces were found hanging in this exhibit.  Whether you were there for nostalgic effect of wallpaper featuring old comic books or for wallpaper you can draw on, the sidewall designs are interesting for any age group.  The cherry scratch- and-sniff wallpaper was by far the most interesting of all, still smelling of scratched cherries.  The exhibit also featured some practical portions of wallpaper including several alphabet pieces, a counting piece, and a few pieces with simply relaxing designs.  No matter what design you decided upon, any child would be happy.  As you leave the sidewall exhibit and then the museum, you are restored with a sense of nostalgia and wonder.

The “Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design” featured a diverse group of exhibits.  Each exhibition was so different from the next that there was something for everyone to see and enjoy.  As long as you make your turns right, there’s no way to go wrong at this museum.  As a museum of design, they managed to design excitement into every corner.