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Cooper-Hewitt Lauds World's Top Design Talent

Winners were named in nine categories.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 5/13/2008 12:00:00 AM

From left: Rolling Huts in Mazama, Washington, 2008, by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects; Studio House. Seattle, Washington, 1997, by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects.

An industrial designer, a media giant, and a visionary thinker are among the winners of the prestigious National Design Awards, presented by New York's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. The program, now in its ninth year, celebrates design excellence across disciplines.

"The work of this year's honorees has made a broad and powerful impact on our society," says Cooper-Hewitt director Paul Warwick Thompson. "The innovations of visionaries like Google, this year's Corporate Achievement winner, and Lifetime Achievement recipient Charles Harrison, are a testament to design's ability to connect with a wide audience and affect all areas of daily life, from the way we work, use technology and interact with our environment."

Winners were honored in nine categories. A gala dinner and awards ceremony will be held October 23 at the Cooper-Hewitt, in conjunction with the musem's third annual National Design Week, October 19-25.

The jury was composed of:
Tim Brown, jury chair and chief executive officer and president, IDEO
James Carpenter, principal, James Carpenter Design Associates
Francisco Costa, creative director, Calvin Klein Collection for women, Calvin Klein
Camilo Pardo, design chief, Special Vehicles Team and Living Legends Studio, Ford Motor Company
Mark Robbins, dean, Syracuse University School of Architecture
Georgianna Stout, founding partner and creative director, 2x4
Raquel Tudela, global creative director, Bloomberg L.P.
Lauren Zalaznick, president, Bravo and Oxygen Media

From left: Columbus Circle New York in 2005, by Olin Partnership; Gap Headquarters in San Francisco, 2001 by Olin Partnership.

A complete list of winners is below.

Lifetime Achievement
Charles Harrison, former industrial designer at Sears, Roebuck & Company, and current design instructor at Columbia College in Chicago

Corporate Achievement
Information giant Google

Finalists
JetBlue airline
OXO International kitchen and housewares product manufacturer

Design Mind
Michael Bierut, partner at New York-based design firm Pentagram

Finalists
Bruce Nussbaum, assistant managing editor at BusinessWeek magazine
Michael Sorkin, a writer, critic, and designer and principal of Michael Sorkin Studio and director of the Graduate Urban Design Program at Architecture at the City College of New York.

Architecture Design
Tom Kundig, a partner in the Seattle-based firm Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects

Finalists
LOT-EK, a firm led by partners Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano specializing in reuse of prefabricated objects and industrial materials
Weiss/Manfredi, and architecture, art, infrastructure and landscape design firm founded by Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi

Communications Design
Scott Stowell, founder of New York-based design studio Open

Finalists
Stephen Doyle, graphic designer
Prologue Films, a a motion graphics design company led by Kimberly and Kyle Cooper

Fashion Design
Ralph Pucci, clothing, accessory, and footwear designer

Finalists
Thom Browne, clothing designer
Zac Posen, clothing designer

Interior Design
Rockwell Group, design firm founded by David Rockwell

Finalists
Deborah Berke & Partners, a firm specializing in mixed-use, commercial, hospitality, institutional, and residential projects
Diane Lewis, principal of design firm Diane Lewis Architect

Landscape Design
Olin Partnership, landscape architecture firm

Finalists
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, a multidisciplinary practice led by partners Kathryn Gustafson, Jennifer Guthrie and Shannon Nichol
Stoss Landscape Urbanism, a Boston-based design and planning studio

Product Design
Antenna Design, product design firm

Finalists
Boym Partners, a design studio led by Constantin and Laurene Boym
Karim Rashid, New York-based designer

Photo credits top, from left: Tim Bies/Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects; Benjamin Benschneider.

Photo credits bottom, from left: copyright Peter Mauss/Esto; Marion Brenner.