Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards Honor Graves, More

The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Awards announced its list of ten National Design Award winners yesterday, honoring innovation and excellences across different disciplines. The highlight may have been the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to the late architect and industrial designer Michael Graves, a pioneer in accessible, democratic design. Winners will he honored with the signature twisted asterisk trophy at an Oct. 15 gala at Pier Sixty in New York, with the First Lady serving as an honorary patron for this year's awards.

Larsen's Silk Hangings project for Sears Bank & Trust in Chicago (1974)
Jack Lenor Larsen: Director's Award
A longtime advocate for traditional and contemporary crafts, Larsen founded his own textile firm in 1952 and is one of a handful of Americans who have exhibited at the Louvre.

Community Solutions led a project that found homes for 100,000 medically vulnerable and chronically homeless Americans in under four years using existing resources.
Rosanne Haggerty: Design Mind
A longtime advocate and design thinker who has tackled many of our most difficult community housing issues, Haggerty is a MAcArthur Fellow and founder of Community Solutions, an organization that assists the most vulnerable among us across the country.

A collection of Heath's seasonal ceramic tableware.
Heath Ceramics: Corporate & Institutional Achievement
The California-based tile company, re-founded in 2003 by Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic, embodies the values and local craftsmanship, creativity and social responsibility.

The Floating House is part of a master plan of five proposed cabin/houses located on Lake Huron, Canada.
Mos Architects: Architecture Design
This New York-based practice, founded by academics and architects Hilary Sample and Michael Meredith in 2005, takes a studied approach to forward-thinking design, showcased in projects such as the Floating House on Lake Huron.

The design of the 2010 Whitney Biennial catalogue presents the current exhibition as part of a historical continuum.
Project Projects: Communication Design
This New York-based graphic design studio focuses on publishing and communication projects in the realms of design history, contemporary art and urbanism.

Wardrobe created for Björk's Biophilia album and tour
threeASFOUR: Fashion Design
The innovative New York label, which has collaborated with artists including Björk, Yoko Ono, and Matthew Barney, has its work included in the permanent collection at the V&A and Met museum.

John Underkoffler: Interaction Design
Co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles–based Oblong Industries, Underkoffler has focused on optical and electronic holography and large-scale interactive visualization techniques. An expert on the subject of human-machine interaction, he's also served as a technical advisor for films such as Minority Report.

Guided by a midcentury modern aesthetic, the Speckman house and landscape in St. Paul, Minnesota, blend through the use of a refined palette of concrete, steel, wood, and water.
Coen + Partners: Landscape Architecture
Founded by Shane Coen in 1991, this Minneapolis-based practice has advanced the idea of progressive design and ecological understanding within the landscape architect world in the Midwest and beyond.

Amanda Drive Residence restoration, renovation of a historic residence originally designed by Rudolf Schindler in 1948.
Commune: Interior Design
This L.A.-based studio is known for holistic work that bridges gaps between disciplines, including architecture, interior design, graphic design, product design and brand management.

Pieces from the Stephen Burks: Man Made, solo exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2011, produced in collaboration with artisans from Dakar, Senegal. 
Stephen Burks: Product Design
Burks' practice focuses on the intersection of craft traditions, industrial manufacturing, and contemporary design, creating intriguing juxtapositions and new methods of assembly.