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Object Timeline

-0001

1986

  • We acquired this object.

  • Work on this object began.

2002

2006

2015

2018

2024

  • You found it!

Signature Collection: Picnic Flatware Dinner Knife

This is a Dinner knife. It is dated 1986 and we acquired it in 1986. Its medium is anodized aluminum. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

American designer David Tisdale won both the American Craft Museum Design Award (1985) and the Pantone Color Award (1988) for his Picnic Flatware. Tisdale’s focus on basic geometric outlines in his rainbow-colored eating utensils highlights their elemental function rather than intricate ergonomic shapes. Tisdale gained acclaim for this flatware, although he also designs jewelry in a similar Constructivist manner — his bracelets, earrings, and brooches contain geometric shapes, straight lines, and flat areas of color.

It is credited Museum purchase from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund.

  • Bowl (Germany)
  • kiln-formed fused glass.
  • This acquisition made possible through Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation.
  • 1983-11-1
  • Teapot Teapot
  • silver-plated copper, anodized aluminum, onyx.
  • Purchase in memory of Mildred Rosenberg, Gift of her Family..
  • 1992-33-1-a,b

Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

Its dimensions are

L x W x D: 20.5 x 2.4 x 0.5 cm (8 1/16 x 15/16 x 3/16 in.)

It has the following markings

Engraved in script on the handle: "David Tisdale c. 1986"

Cite this object as

Signature Collection: Picnic Flatware Dinner Knife; USA; anodized aluminum; L x W x D: 20.5 x 2.4 x 0.5 cm (8 1/16 x 15/16 x 3/16 in.); Museum purchase from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund; 1986-94-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibitions Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color and Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18621771/ |title=Signature Collection: Picnic Flatware Dinner Knife |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=18 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>