AN Interiors 3

On View

Beauty— Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum Triennial February 12-August 21, 2016

By Becca Blasdel

This year’s design triennial at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum begs the question, “What is beauty?” The answer is broken down into six categories: “extravagant,” “intricate,” “ethereal,” “transgressive,” “transformative,” “emergent,” and “elemental.” With pieces ranging from the practical to the imaginary, every showgoer is bound to leave awestruck by one work or another. The exhibit—curated by Andrea Lipps, assistant curator, and Ellen Lupton, senior curator of contemporary design—features more than 250 works by 63 designers and teams from around the world, including architects,

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fashion designers, digital artists, and more.

The “extravagant” pieces range from intricate art

by Japanese nail designer Naomi Yasuda and makeup

by Pat McGrath, to a lavish red ombre ball gown by Giambattista Valli.

Works in the “intricate” gallery include hyper-detailed wallpaper from Studio Job that lines the stairwell between the first and second floor galleries, making even transitional spaces on theme.

The “ethereal” collection contains two exceptional large-scale works. The first, created by Humans Since