Awards events can be a dime a dozen depending on which organization is doling them out. But the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s annual design awards carry more might than most.
The Upper East Side museum announced the 2023 roster of recipients, several of whom are using innovative design to try to create societal change. Now in its 24th year, the National Design Awards are meant to highlight how design enriches everyday life.
The winners in 10 categories will be saluted at a gala at the Cooper Hewitt on Oct. 5. In keeping with its commitment to improving accessibility, the museum will offer free admission during its annual National Design week, which is slated for Oct. 2 to 8. As in years past, there will also be special programming, workshops and panel discussions to reel in more visitors. Those who make the trek can check out “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes,” an exhibition about a textiles designer, whose cross-disciplinary influence can still be seen today.
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Twenty years after he launched his signature label, Naeem Khan will be saluted for the Fashion Design award. Born in India, the New York-based designer is committed to craft and tradition as evidenced by his elaborately embroidered eveningwear. He still relies on artisans in the family-owned factory in India that his grandfather first opened decades ago. Khan, who shows during New York Fashion Week, has dressed such notables as former first lady Michelle Obama.
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Even with his commitment to age-old techniques, he incorporates an undercurrent of modernism in his designs, a sensibility that stemmed from his first job in the U.S. — a stint at Halston.
This year’s Design Visionary award winner is Seymour Chwast, Push Pin Studios’ founding partner, who has been pushing the boundaries of graphic design since the ’50s and continues to conjure up new frontiers in design and typography.
The Communications award is earmarked for creative director Arem Duplessis, who has done work for Apple, the New York Times Magazine and Condé Nast’s GQ. There, he led the development of the typeface Gotham, which was subsequently used in President Barack Obama’s campaigns, Coca-Cola advertisements and “Saturday Night Live.”
In another sign of the importance of messaging, Clement Mok will be celebrated for Digital Design for his innovative design of digital products, environments, systems, experiences and services. As a designer, software publisher and developer, author and patent holder, Mok has worked for CBS and Apple (including helping to make Macs more user-friendly). He then went on to start Studio Archetype, CMCD and NetObjects.
The museum will honor Beatriz Lozano as the Emerging Designer for her typography that melds the physical and digital world. As an immigrant rights activist, she understands the power of visual communication through graphic design, and strives to use graphic design to create social change and improve access to resources and knowledge.
Social change is also at the foundation of this year’s Architecture honoree nArchitects. In 1999, Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang started the company to address pressing issues through socially engaging work, as in using public spaces and buildings to bring together different communities. The firm created New York City’s first micro-unit apartment building, Carmel Place, in 2016. It also worked on the Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center to attract the next generation of environmental stewards.
As designers and companies in all fields explore new avenues to reduce carbon emissions, the Climate Action award is going to Biocement Tiles by Biomason. The 11-year-old company aims to reduce CO2 emissions generated by global cement manufacturing, which accounts for approximately 8 percent of global CO2 emissions.
In keeping with his field of expertise, Landscape Design winner Kongjian Yu is also all about environmentalism. A farmer’s son who trained at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, he started the Peking University College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Turenscape, a firm that develops landscapes that combat flooding and repair ecological damage
The Cooper Hewitt will hand over the Product Design award to Atlason, a firm that has worked with L’Oréal, the Museum of Modern Art, Ikea, DWR, Heller, Our Place, Microsoft, Stella Artois and Johnson & Johnson. This year’s Interior Design award will go to The Archers, which was founded by Richard Petit and Stephen Hunt.