NYC's Captivating Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design (2-12-15)

I had the pleasure of visiting the Cooper Hewitt Museum a few weeks ago with two work friends.  It had been closed for renovations over the past two years.  We intended to stay for two hours and ended up reluctantly leaving after four. There were so many eye-catching and fascinating exhibits.

The NYC’S Upper East Side Cooper Hewitt is a Smithsonian “Design Museum” -- the only historic and contemporary design museum in the country.   It focuses on the “impact of design on daily life.”
Its ambitious and admirable mission is to advance public understanding of “thirty centuries of human creativity.”  The collections of the Cooper Hewitt include over 217,000 design objects.  
The museum was founded in 1897 by Amy, Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt, the 3 granddaughters of industrialist Peter Cooper.  The Cooper Hewitt Design Museum was first a part of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art college. 
In 1967 it became a branch of the Smithsonian. It is housed in a landmark mansion on Fifth Avenue that had belonged to industrial giant Andrew Carnegie.
Carnegie’s mansion of 64 rooms was built between 1899 and 1902.  Carnegie oversaw his philanthropic activities from there upon his retirement.  He donated much money to build free libraries across the country.  
The mansion is a Georgian style country house with a beautiful private garden.

http://www.cooperhewitt.org/about/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 Upstairs on the third floor was  an exhibit on TOOLS:

 

 

 

This was a very eye-catching exhibit, a "frozen explosion" of tools:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Then there was the "solar wall":

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a fascinating tool called the "kernel of life."  By applying blood, urine, breath, saliva to the appropriately colored amulets, digital data can be compiled for the patient thousands of miles away by medical personnel.

 

 

 

 

And it works as an attractive necklace, too:

 

 

 

 

 

A whale blubber assuredly WARM coat:

 

 

 

An origami dress:

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the fun rooms was set up for the visitors to design their own wallpaper!  My friend, Ira, a cartoonist and artist, did a great job with his:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another fun exhibit was the Sketchbot:

 

 

 

A camera takes a minimal picture of you (me):

 

 

 

And then a robotic arm draws the sketch into the sand (the Sketchbot did a great job with my fuzzy scarf):

 

 

 

Another special room had small scale models of creatively designed staircases:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hewitt sisters had a thing for birdcages:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An interesting chair in the birdcage room:

 

 

 

 

Here is an eclectic range of paintings and posters: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where's Emmerling? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And an eclectic range of furniture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here are eye-catching miscellaneous items:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here are some 3-D printed shoes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Finally, a visit to the dramatically windowed giftshop:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am eager to go back for newly-themed exhibits and,  on a warmer day, to enjoy the grounds outdoors!