Philadelphia Museum of Art - Information : Press Room : Press Releases : 1999

October 11th, 1999

Prestigious Award Honors Three Who Design the Future

As the year 2000 approaches, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and COLLAB (a group of design professionals who support the Museum's 20th-century design collections) present Designing the Future: Three Directions for the New Millennium, the COLLAB Design Excellence Award for 1999. Designing the Future will honor Jonathan Ive, Maya Lin, and Karim Rashid, three young designers with careers of lasting influence. Maya Lin and Karim Rashid will speak at the Museum on Wednesday, November 17, at 6:00 p.m. in the Van Pelt Auditorium (for tickets, call 215-235-SHOW).

In conjunction with the COLLAB award, important examples of the designers' work will be on view from November 17, 1999, through March 26, 2000, in Design Gallery 170, in the Museum's Galleries of 20th-Century Art, first floor.

Recipients of the 1999 COLLAB Design Excellence Award are:

Apple Computer's Vice President of Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive (b. 1967), who revolutionized the personal-computer market with his design for the iMac. Ive's designs combine a pioneering use of materials, new manufacturing techniques, and sculptural forms that are easy to understand and use.

Maya Lin (b. 1959), who is perhaps best known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. (1981), has gone on to pursue careers in both architecture and sculpture. Her architectural work includes public and private commissions, and her work in sculpture has ranged from large-scale environmental installations to studio pieces. In 1998, Lin designed her first line of retail furniture for the influential industry giant, Knoll, inspired, as is all her work, by the sensitive and fragile relationship between human beings and nature. Lin has recently opened an exhibition of her sculptures at Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.

Karim Rashid (b. 1960) is an industrial designer with an international practice ranging from handbags and packaging for Issey Miyake in Japan, to furniture and housewares for Umbra of Canada. Interested in the luminous, translucent effects of plastics and other materials, Rashid describes his design philosophy as sensual minimalism, in which objects "communicate, engage and inspire."

As an educational complement to Designing the Future, COLLAB has asked Philadelphia-area college and university-level design students to Design a Clock for the New Millennium. This 7th-annual student design competition, sponsored by Herman Miller, Inc., will be juried by: Jerome Cloud, Principal, Cloud and Gehshan Associates, graphic and environmental-identity designers; Hilary Jay, Design Columnist for the Inquirer Magazine, and contributor to other design publications; Josh Owen, Principal, owenLOGIKdesign, product, lighting, and furniture designers; Glen Senk, President, Anthropologie stores; and Sheri Watson, Buyer of lighting, furniture and accessories, and Manager, Lee's Studio.

Competition winners will receive prizes ranging from $150 to $500, and will be honored during the Designing the Future event on November 17. Following the competition, a selection of the clocks will be displayed in Daffy's store window, at 17th and Chestnut Streets.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest museums in the United States, with a collection of more than 227,000 works of art and more than 200 galleries presenting painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, decorative arts, textiles, and architectural settings from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Its facilities include its landmark Main Building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Perelman Building, located nearby on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Rodin Museum on the 2200 block of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and two 18th-century houses in Fairmount Park, Mount Pleasant and Cedar Grove. The Museum offers a wide variety of activities for public audiences, including special exhibitions, programs for children and families, lectures, concerts and films.

For additional information, contact the Marketing and Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art at (215) 684-7860. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call (215) 763-8100, or visit the Museum's website at www.philamuseum.org.