We’re happy to announce that Little Sun is now part of the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt (Smithsonian Design) museum in New York, and is featured in a new exhibition: Energising the Everyday.
The pieces on display celebrate the gift from George Kravis, collector of industrial design. The director of Cooper Hewitt, Caroline Baumann, remarked that the collection ‘bolsters Cooper Hewitt’s holdings as one of the foremost industrial design collections in the United States.’
As a collector, Kravis is interested in how design objects enhance the day-to-day endeavours of the home or workplace and also travel and leisure activities. Kravis considers the object’s purpose, form, manufacture and materials while also calling attention to the user and the design process.
‘The rigid geometry of Norman Bel Geddes’s 1935 skyscraper-like Manhattan Cocktail Set, the humor of Cesare Cassati’s and C. Emanuele Ponzio’s 1968 Pillola Lamps and the social concerns reflected in Olafur Eliasson’s Little Sun Solar-Powered LED Lantern of 2012 are among the many historic and contemporary themes evoked in “Energizing the Everyday.”’
Little Sun sits amongst the other design pieces as a demonstration of how design can raise awareness of social issues, such as lack of access to energy.
