By Claudia Marina
For the past ten years, Cooper Hewitt, National Smithsonian Design Museum has dedicated exhibition space to designed objects that defy the very idea of being displayed in a museum. This is partly a result of the work of Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design, who has travelled across the United States visiting poverty-stricken areas in search for design that stems from everyday necessity. In 2007, this culminated in the exhibition titled Design for the Other 90% (later changed to Design and the Other 90%) followed by Design with the Other 90%: CITIES in 2011, and most recently By the People: Designing a Better America, which was on view from September 30, 2016 to February 26, 2017.