A visit to Cooper Hewitt Museum
To be honest, I didn’t really have much of a reason for adding Cooper-Hewitt to my New York City bucket list. I think I maybe saw a photo of the facade of the mansion on Instagram and thought–hmm, what is this beautiful ivy-colored brick wall in the middle of Manhattan?! So I added it to the list, and then went on a whim when I was running an errand on the Upper East Side.
All of this to say: I didn’t really know what I was showing up for, and I was SO pleasantly surprised. For one, the mansion is just as gorgeous and ivy-covered as I hoped (even on a depressingly rainy and cold May day) and full of architectural details, inside and out. But mostly, the museum is incredibly well-designed to be thought-provoking and interactive and tech-savvy. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the design-focused exhibits, and getting involved in them–even though I was there by myself!
One of the coolest parts of the museum: when you arrive, you get this nifty little pen-like thing. You can press it against the number on any exhibit and it will “save” the exhibit (high-def photos, information on the artist, etc.) to your account that you can later access online. You can also use it to write or interact with the touchscreen exhibits and displays sprinkled throughout the museum. 
A lot of the museum focuses on the design of objects throughout different periods. My favorite was on the Jazz Age: I loved all of the fancy flapper dresses and gilded Great Gatsby-esque items.
OK, this is so lame but I LOVED this interactive wallpaper exhibit–officially called the “Immersion Room.” You got to sketch on this neat little touchscreen and come up with your own design, and then project it on the walls all around you at full scale as wallpaper. It was a cool look into wallpaper design and just such a fun thing to do. 
This little alcove might have been my favorite part of the whole mansion: I wish I had the time to curl up there with a good book and do some people-watching in the garden! 
From the Cooper Hewitt web site: “Process Lab installations give visitors firsthand experiences with the activities designers use to solve problems and develop new ideas. Now on view, Citizen Design invites visitors to engage, empathize, and help envision a better America.” This was the only exhibit where I wished I had come with a few friends–there were so many great conversation starters here, and I would have loved to go through the whole process with a few people. Either way, it did raise my own awareness about how problems like this are approached and solved in our society. Personally, I’m very interested in figuring out how we can get people to read more!
This garden is free and open to the public! It’s right across the street from Central Park: I would love to pop in here on a sunny day and truly enjoy it. 
Have you ever visited Cooper-Hewitt? What’s your favorite museum in New York City?
