Cooper Hewitt Announces Winners of 2015 National Design Awards

NEW YORK, May 5, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will celebrate outstanding achievement in American design this fall with its 16th annual National Design Awards program. Today, Cooper Hewitt director Caroline Baumann announced the winners of the 2015 National Design Awards, which recognize excellence and innovation across a variety of disciplines. The award recipients will be honored at a gala dinner Thursday, Oct. 15, in New York.

"With the reopening of the museum this past year, Cooper Hewitt is scaling new heights to educate, inspire and empower our community through design," said Baumann. "I am thrilled and honored to welcome this year's class of National Design Award winners, all of whom represent the pinnacle of innovation in their field, with their focus on collaboration, social and environmental responsibility, and the fusion of technology and craftsmanship."

First launched at the White House in 2000 as a project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards were established to promote design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world. The awards are accompanied each year by National Design Week, which this year will take place Oct. 10–18 and include a variety of public education programs, panel discussions and workshops. First Lady Michelle Obama serves as the Honorary Patron for this year's National Design Awards.

A jury of design leaders and educators from across the country, convened by the museum, reviewed submissions resulting from nominations submitted by the general public. Winners are selected based on the level of excellence, innovation and public impact of their body of work. Unlike the jury-selected awards, the Director's Award is chosen by Baumann, and given to an individual in recognition of outstanding support and patronage within the design community.

This year's recipients:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Michael Graves
DIRECTOR'S AWARD: Jack Lenor Larsen
DESIGN MIND: Rosanne Haggerty
CORPORATE & INSTITUTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT:  Heath Ceramics
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN: MOS Architects
COMMUNICATION DESIGN: Project Projects
FASHION DESIGN: threeASFOUR
INTERACTION DESIGN: John Underkoffler
INTERIOR DESIGN: Commune
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: Coen + Partners
PRODUCT DESIGN: Stephen Burks

National Design Awards programming is made possible by major support from Target.

Additional funding is provided by Design Within Reach.
National Design Award trophies are created by The Corning Museum of Glass. ndagallery.cooperhewitt.org is powered by Behance, part of the Adobe family.

Media sponsorship is provided by Smithsonian Media.

SOURCE Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum