July 25, 2012

KnollTextiles at the Cooper-Hewitt

Dorothy Cosonas was appointed creative director at KnollTextiles in the Spring of 2005 following a successful term as Unika Vaev’s design director and vice president. In 2012, seven products (five upholsteries and two wall coverings) created during Cosonas’ seven-year tenure at Knoll were added into the permanent collection at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: Topography (2006), Jaipur (2008), Sandi (2008), Drip (2011), Katazome (2011), and Tryst (2012).

Cosonas quickly points out all the products created at Knoll are a team effort. Matilda McQuaid, deputy curatorial director and head of textiles at the museum, notes, “Seven pieces at one time is a substantial number to be selected…But when possible, we like to collect in depth when the designer’s work exhibits the quality of Dorothy’s …The selection of work by Dorothy Cosonas not only follows [the museum’s] criteria [showing innovative quality combined with historic or contemporary significance], but also represents different techniques and sources of inspiration, which are pertinent to our collecting effort.”

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