Seven Ways to Spend Your National Design Week

It's almost here: National Design Week (October 9-17)! Now in its fifth year, the Cooper-Hewitt initiative is part educational (free museum admission, public programs galore) and part celebrational (the National Design Awards gala). It also extends well beyond New York City, with designtastic exhibitions and events happening from Tacoma to Miami. Were we encumbered by space, time, and the UnBeige expense account, here's seven of them we wouldn't miss: Begin National Design Week by casting your vote for the People's Design Award, a crowdsourced answer to the question of "What is good design?" Socially responsible entries tend to triumph, and this year, a reusable water bottle and a neonatal incubator made from car parts have emerged as early favorites. Have your say before voting closes on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Eastern. Next stop? Hawaii. Why? Men in Lace, which at first sounds only slightly more appealing than snakes on a plane. The Honolulu Academy of Arts will change your mind with its exhibition (through Sunday) exploring what was once a manly accessory and the ultimate status symbol. Get up close and personal with men's collars, cuffs, bibs, cravats, fichus, flounces, shoe roses, bootlaces, and garters. Be sure to stop at the costume station, where you can try on a ruff to the tunes of Baroque music—and snap a truly unique new Facebook profile photo. Spend your Columbus Day Monday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where AIGA South Dakota will present a lecture by Red Hat's Jonathan Opp on "building brands the open source way." Crimson fedora optional, but suggested! On Tuesday, find a teen (you'll know them by their kooky rubberband bracelets) and ask him or her to sneak you into the Cooper-Hewitt's Teen Design Fair, where keynote speaker Tim Gunn will be joined by the likes of Cynthia Rowley, William Sofield, Maira Kalman, and Ayse Birsel to spread the word about careers in design. If you can't make that work, there's still that evening's National Design Awards Winners' Panel, which will be webcast here. Wednesday is the perfect day for a design film. The Cooper-Hewitt will be screening Helvetica, Objectified, and Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes. Also consider procuring a DVD of Valentino: The Last Emperor. Worth it for the Karl Lagerfeld cameo alone. Ever been to Montana? That's what Thursday is for. Get thee to Missoula, where the Montana Museum of Art and Culture at The University of Montana is celebrating architect A.J. Gibson (you guessed it, a Monatanan!) with an exhibition that includes models of several Gibson buildings, reproductions of his architectural plans, original drawings, scrapbooks, photo albums, and architectural fragments. All of that will seem even more impressive once you learn that Gibson had no professional training. Smells like...Friday! Cap off your National Design Week in the Big Easy, where the New Orleans Museum of Art offers up "Scents and Sensibility: Perfume Bottles and Related Accessories from Antiquity to Present." After frolicking amongst the historical flacons, find a store that sells Marc Jacobs' newest fragrance, Bang, and fondle its extraordinary bottle, designed by Harry Allen.

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Seven Ways to Spend Your National Design Week

Stephanie Murg

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Stephanie Murg