
October 17-23 is National Design Week.
Launched in 2006, it’s a time to celebrate the power of design in our everyday lives. Held in conjunction with the National Design Awards, it’s an exciting time to shine a spotlight on some of the world’s most exciting designers and design thinkers.
Here’s a description of the awards from the Cooper Hewitt website:
The National Design Awards is a Cooper Hewitt initiative launched in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council. The awards and its associated public programs seek to increase national awareness of the impact of design in our everyday life.
Reflecting the ever-growing scope of design, the National Design Awards program currently includes nine award categories:Design Visionary, Climate Action, Emerging Designer, Architecture / Interior Design, Communication Design, Digital Design, Fashion Design, Landscape Architecture, and Product Design.
In addition to the annual awards ceremony, Cooper Hewitt integrates National Design Award winners in a series of educational programs happening throughout the year and during National Design Week.
Check out all of the incredible winners at the awards site. From building affordable and beautiful housing, to recycling vintage textiles in men’s fashion, to visualizing big data at a human scale, the featured work is truly extraordinary. Many of the recipients are using inventive materials and incorporating digital technologies in their work.
While they’re all unique, they share the common ground of using design as a way to approach some of our world’s greatest challenges. Design affects the way we live and understand our time. Congratulations to these design mavericks who are endlessly inspiring.
Do you have a favorite? Tell us about it!
Below is a small sample of the amazing work these Designers produce.


