The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum today announced First Lady Michelle Obama, honorary patron for this year’s National Design Awards, will celebrate the 2011 National Design Awards September 13, with a White House ceremony for the winners and finalists of the awards.
The award winners will participate in an education program for local high school students before the luncheon whereby students will meet one-on-one with leading designers in the fields of fashion, industrial design, architecture, multimedia and graphic design, including Matthew Carter, Jamie Drake, Tobias Frere-Jones, Kathryn Gustafson, Steven Heller and Jonathan Hoefler.
"The First Lady is an influential champion of design and arts education, and we are honored to once again have her support as honorary patron of the National Design Awards," said Museum Director Bill Moggridge.
The 2011 National Design Award recipients are: Lifetime Achievement: Matthew Carter; Design Mind: Steven Heller; Corporate and Institutional Achievement: Knoll; Architecture Design: Architecture Research Office; Communication Design: Rick Valicenti; Fashion Design: J. Mendel; Interaction Design: Ben Fry; Interior Design: Shelton, Mindel & Associates; Landscape Architecture: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol; and Product Design: Continuum.
The 2011 jury was composed of a diverse group of designers and educators from around the nation, including: Andrew Blauvelt, Walker Art Center; June Cohen, TED Media; Jamie Drake, Drake Design Associates; Terry Guen, Terry Guen Design Associates Inc.; David Kusuma, Tupperware Brands Corporation; Jennifer Morla, Morla Design; Lela Rose, Lela Rose; Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, Billie Tsien Architects; and Patrick Whitney, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology.
The annual National Design Awards celebrate design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world. The awards are accompanied each year by a variety of public education programs, including special events, panel discussions and workshops. The award recipients also will be honored at a gala dinner Oct. 20 at Pier Sixty in New York.
