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Design Inspiration: Cooper Hewitt Design Museum Digitizes Collection
Design Inspiration: Cooper Hewitt Design Museum Digitizes Collection
Smithsonian Design Museum COPYRIGHT: Cooper Hewitt
Where do you find design inspiration? Perhaps you take long walks outside, taking inspiration from the organic motions of the natural world, or maybe you prefer to browse Instagram for your favorite designers. Regardless of your design style, this we know is true: All design is, in some way, inspired by art and artifact.
COPYRIGHT: Cooper Hewitt
Over the past two years, the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, a Smithsonian, has worked tirelessly and unremarkably fast to digitize 90 percent of its collection of design feats and interesting cultural items. Now, designers with normal, nine-to-five jobs don’t have to travel all the way to New York every time they need inspiration. You can simply browse the digital museum, delving into digitized versions of each item as if you are really there.
COPYRIGHT: Cooper Hewitt
Drawing /design by Kilemnik & Cia., ca. 1925. COPYRIGHT: Cooper Hewitt
For those of us who own a design firm, take care of our kids during the day or simply don’t live near the Cooper Hewitt Museum, the 18-month project will absolutely satisfy your curiosity without necessitating the physicality of the museum. Now complete, the project opened online access to more than 200,000 artifacts that peek into history as far back as three thousand years.
The museum took a very methodical approach to digitize itself, carting each item to a large white photo booth for photographs. Users can either directly search for items or explore the collection by sifting through categories listed on the website. The site will also generate random triptychs of items with a similar color scheme, shown in blocks, which you can click on to see every item in the collection that uses that color.
COPYRIGHT: Cooper Hewitt
Not only does this collection make the museum more accessible to everyone, but it opens up an entirely new door for how we use design museums. For example, if I went to the Cooper Hewitt in New York, I may not be able to search by color and then browse each item until I find the perfect muse for a decadent living room. While it is, of course, important to recognize the value of seeing these items in person, it is also imperative to draw attention to the revolutionary idea of a museum as a tool for artists, designers, scholars and more.
Textile Design by Raoul Dufy and manufactured by Bianchini Ferier, Inc.,1912–13 COPYRIGHT: Cooper Hewitt
Bracelet by Fortunato Pio Castellani & Sons, ca. 1880 COPYRIGHT: Cooper Hewitt
In an internet-dominated era, where images can go viral within minutes, going digital brings the Cooper Hewitt and its collection into the contemporary world. From Art Deco to early 19th century Italian tiles to a print of “a large snail shell, snakes, a dragon and four bearded men,” the digital museum offers art and design in an instant — interior design has never been easier.
About the Author:
Anand Tripathi is a medical scribe by day and writer at night. He is a freelance writer with an interest in a wide array of fields, including science, cars, and fashion. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
