A new distinction folded into Cooper Hewitt’s annual Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala recognizes individual designers, living and deceased, as well as large corporations “for their lasting contributions to the field of design,” Cooper Hewitt shared.
Adobe, MillerKnoll, Target, and Tiffany & Co are among the inaugural class of Gala Honorees. Martha Stewart; fashion designers Thom Browne and Tory Burch; artist and architect Maya Lin; creative director Jenna Lyons; and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott were also listed as honorees.
Industrialist Peter Cooper, Frederick Law Olmsted, Louis Sullivan, Candace Wheeler, and Frank Lloyd Wright were named Gala Honorees post-mortem for their contributions to the fields of landscape architecture, architecture, and interior design.
“American design has been shaped by remarkable individuals and institutions whose ideas continue to influence the way we experience the world,” Cooper Hewitt director Maria Nicanor said in a statement.
“In the year of the United States’ 250th anniversary, we are proud to recognize both contemporary leaders and historic figures whose work has left a lasting mark on the field,” Nicanor continued.
The Gala Honorees will be recognized in tandem with the 2026 National Design Award winners: Robert Earl Paige, Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, Mattaforma, Frida Escobedo Studio, Thought Matter, Laura Kurgan, Josh Tafoya, Charlap Hyman & Herrero, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, and Berea College Student Craft.
The jurors for this year’s awards were Aric Chen, of the Zaha Hadid Foundation; Liz Danzico, Microsoft AI; Patricia Moore, MooreDesign Associates; Henk Ovink, Global Commission on the Economics of Water; Valerie Steele, Fashion Institute of Technology; and Thomas Woltz, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.
The 2026 Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala will take place May 19.
