The National Design Awards were conceived by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American contemporary design. The Awards are bestowed in recognition of excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life. The National Design Awards is one of the few programs of its kind structured to continue to benefit the nation long after the National Design Awards Gala. During National Design Week, the Museum hosts a series of public programs based on the vision and work of the honorees, and helps promote design events held across the country.

National Design Awards 2015 program celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement.
Honor this year’s National Design Award winners by attending the Gala in New York City on Thursday, October 15, 2015, or by making a contribution to the Awards. All proceeds support Cooper Hewitt’s programs that educate, inspire, and empower people through design.

see also, 20 ESSENTIAL MUSEUMS AND ART CENTERS AROUND THE GLOBE THAT YOU MUST VISIT!

Resrve your tables and tickets here, call 212.849.8340, or email ndatickets@si.edu.And the winers are…

Michael Graves | Lifetime achievement

Michael Graves was a renowned architect and industrial designer, credited with broadening the role of architects and raising public interest in good design as essential to the quality of everyday life. He established Michael Graves Architecture and Design in 1964, and served as principal until his death in 2015. Widely recognized for designing consumer products for Alessi, Target, and Kimberly-Clark, he later focused on accessibility and healthcare, designing hospitals, housing for disabled veterans, and wheelchairs and hospital furniture for Stryker Medical. Graves served as the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture at Princeton University, where he taught for thirty-nine years. His numerous honors include the 2012 Richard H. Driehaus Prize, the 2010 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion, the 2001 AIA Gold Medal, a 1999 National Medal of Arts, and inclusion on a list of the top twenty-five most influential people in healthcare design by the Center for Health Design in 2010.