The Collection | Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Explore over 30 centuries of design online, from ancient Roman marble to Pre-Columbian textiles, Renaissance drawings, contemporary 3D-printed chairs, and digital code. Please note that cataloging a collection of over 215,000 objects is a work in progress. You may come across records with very little information, factual errors, or harmful language. We appreciate your help in addressing these concerns and invite your feedback.

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Collection Highlights

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In white above: FREE GERONIMO PRATT/...FIGHTING SPIRIT OF THE BLACK NATION: lower right: one of the longest held political prisoners in the U.S. today...[4 lines of text]. Color photograph of a bearded man gesturing with hand at group of children playing.

Angry Graphics

Chair design in form of a growing tree or bush with crossing and intertwined veins forming seat and back. Two sketches at right of leaves intertwined and branching twigs.

From Sketch to Product

Three horizontal bands depicting scenes from the biblical story in which Judith severs Holoferne's head to save her people.

Lace from the Greenleaf Collection

Featured Objects

A multi-color patchwork of silk squares, rectangles and triangles in blues, greens, yellows, oranges, pinks and white. The design gives the appearance of radiating out from the center, with the smallest pieces in the center and growing slightly larger with each concentric square. Off-white lining.

Figure of an African American woman at right wearing a printed kerchief on her head, colorful garments, and gold earrings. She holds a small child in white and blue dress. In the background, an adult figure wearing a hat and carrying a bag viewed from the back, holding the hand of a child. Collage elements used throughout design. One of seven posters in a paper portfolio.

Two round doilies: one with a fanciful bird, the other with a stylized palm tree. Square lace inserts for a curtain contain a female figure in traditional dress, the other has a male figure with outstretched arms and an owl.

Necklace cord threaded with projecting multi-colored thorn-like beads, reminiscent of candies with spirals; at the back, knot-like element in black with yellow and red teardrops.

The silver centerpiece is bossed and decorated with croquets; from the center of the cup rises a pedestal on which a man stands holding two spears; two coats of arms are standing between his legs, showing three stars, a cracknel and a bird.

Bandbox scene depicts eagle bearing in his beak a banderole advertising the manufacturer. Printed on banderole shown in pattern: "PUTNAM AND ROFF. PAPER/ HANGING &/ BAND/ BOX/ MANUFACR/ HARTFORD/ CON". Light blue ground block printed in orange, white, gray, and light brown distemper colors, and in green, brown, black and yellow with glossy finish. Rim covered in border paper with blue ground, block-printed in white, pink, brown and green.

Murals and supergraphics, fifteen designs

Standing female figure with American flag in her right hand and laurel wreath in her left hand, wearing a diadem with stars and leaning against a tree trunk, at the base of which an American shield with eagle, stars and stripes is placed.

Exhibitions on View

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Black flag with alternating squares of red and white forming a border. Flag depicts an all-female militia confronting a male intruder who reacts with fear to their presence. The two women closest to the intruder carry a flag and a drum while the others carry rifles and a machete. A small British flag appears in the upper left hand corner. The initials of the militia are embroidered along the bottom edge. The flag is fringed on three sides.

Jon Gray of Ghetto Gastro Selects

Textile design consisting of cream and pink striped flowers with orange centers, along with orange and black-spotted cheetahs, against a pink background with orange spots. The cheetahs initially appear to be part of the background and are not immediately visible.

Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Prints That Made the Fashion Brand

A house in middle surrounded by symmetrically arranged flower and topiary beds. A densely planted border of trees surrounds on three sides. Entrance to garden at center bottom edge of drawing.

The Modernist French Garden: Design by the Vera Brothers

Willi Smith: Street Couture

Silk embroidery in pale colors on dark blue linen. A horizontally and vertically symmetrical floral pattern in the Morris style.

Botanical Expressions

Nature by Design: Cochineal

Large tortoiseshell comb with pierced stylized flower and vine motifs.

Plastics

Anatomical model of Theobroma Cacao glued to a vertical rod mounted on a stepped base with affixed paper label

Botanical Lessons

Collections in Motion

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Arc Touch Mouse: Production Process

The Arc Touch Mouse was designed to be portable, comfortable, and sleek.

Curatorial Departments

Horizontal rectangle showing an interior view. At right, two stools, one red and one blue, stand before a bar with a yellow foot rail. Behind are three floating shelves with bottles. At left, a blue banquette stands behind a row of tables with rectilinear decoration in black, white orange and yellow. The walls are white with horizontal detailing. There is a white dropped ceiling with round colored lights.

Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design

Grey-glazed gourd-like form (a), having bulbous lower section tapering up to a curved neck; the rounded top with four holes set off-center; cork stopper (b) in underside.

Product Design and Decorative Arts

Gentleman's waistcoat with standing collar, straight hem edge and pocket welts, with ten worked buttonholes and covered buttons, lined with twill. Embroidered in twenty-five colors of silk floss and chenille on an ivory silk taffeta ground. Overall small floral sprig, with a deep border of irises and other flowers down center front and across bottom. On the larger flowers at the bottom, caterpillars are embroidered in various shades of chenille.

Textiles

Scenes of black lambs in a dressing room or sitting on chairs in between bouquets of flowers, pink perfume bottles, and lipstick cases on a metallic silver ground.

Wallcoverings