Free exhibit Design Museum of Chicago.
When: Opening June 12, 2021.
Where: 72 E. Randolph 1-312-894-6263. $5 suggested donation
COTC note: It’s not clear if the museum will be open on June 12, 2021. Since the City and State will fully open June 11 it seems possible. Per website and voice mail:
The gallery is closed until further updates from the City of Chicago. While distancing, we are planning virtual events, moving our exhibitions online,, and publishing student design projects.
Free exhibit Design Museum of Chicago – A Designed Life: Contemporary American Textiles, Wallpapers, and Containers & Packaging, 1951–1954
Designed Life is an exhibition based on three historically significant traveling exhibitions of contemporary, mass-produced, American-designed consumer goods that were commissioned by the U.S. Department of State in the early 1950:
• Contemporary American Textiles, designed by Florence Knoll;
• Contemporary American Wallpapers, designed by Tom Lee;
• Containers and Packaging, designed by Will Burtin.
It recreates those early Cold War exhibitions — featuring American textiles, wallpapers, containers, and packaging — restating and interpreting part of each display as it might have appeared in the early 1950s.
About Design Museum of Chicago
The Design Museum of Chicago inspires, educates, and fosters innovation through design. We define design broadly, from architecture to street art, from choreography to urban planning. Design is more than a powerful source of inspiration. It is an integral tool that can help to connect communities and create equity. Through free, short-term exhibitions, engaging public programming, and robust partnerships with other arts, academic, and non-profit organizations, the Design Museum contextualizes and humanizes design’s influence in everyday life.
