The 2012 US National Design Awards... and lunch at the White House

America's First Lady Michelle Obama - pictured with the Cooper-Hewitt Museum's Wayne Clough and Caroline Baumann
America's First Lady Michelle Obama - pictured with the Cooper-Hewitt Museum's Wayne Clough and Caroline Baumann - welcomed winners of the US National Design Awards 2012 to the White House. 'All of them have done something really good for our country and our world,' she enthused.
(Image credit: Richard Patterson)

A product designer, a fashion designer, and an architect walk into the White House. That's not the opening line of a bad joke but the actual scene one afternoon last week in Washington, DC, when First Lady Michelle Obama invited the winners of the 2012 US National Design Awards over for lunch.

Now in their thirteenth year, the honours are organised by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The New York-based institution is part of the august Smithsonian but functions more like its cool, brainy cousin under the leadership of Bill Moggridge - a designer himself who went on to co-found IDEO.

This year's slate of winners in 11 creativity-spanning categories includes Thom Browne (fashion design), Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (architecture design), Evan Roth (interaction design), Scott Wilson (product design), and Design that Matters (corporate and institutional achievement).

A string quartet from 'The President's Own' U.S. Marine Band welcomed winners and guests to the state floor entrance hall, where Simmie Knox's 2011 painting of President Bill Clinton proved a popular photo op. A few steps away in the cross hall, cocktails were consumed rather giddily on the distinctive scarlet carpet (familiar from those photographs of purposefully striding presidents) until it was time for lunch.

The vibe in the East Room, the largest in the White House, was simultaneously regal and summery. Chief floral designer Laura Dowling conjured garden-style bouquets at each of the round tables. Her controlled bursts of sunflowers and yellow roses were punctuated with deep purple blooms that matched the plum cardstock of the event programs placed at each seat (chiavari chairs tufted in purple moiré silk).

'Every day, these visionary designers are pushing boundaries, creating or revealing beauty where we least expect it, and helping us all lead healthier, more sustainable lives,' said the First Lady, who serves as the honorary patron of the awards. She got a big laugh from the crowd after deviating from her script to describe lifetime achievement award winner Richard Saul Wurman as 'quite dashing and sassy, I must say'.

While citing the examples of Design that Matters' neonatal incubator made of spare car parts and the nature-inspired advances dreamed up by biomimicry expert Janine Benyus (winner of the 'Design Mind' award), the First Lady also spoke directly to the high school students in attendance, fresh from the Teen Design Fair held that morning. 'What you guys have to understand is that these honorees weren't born brilliant designers,' she said. 'They're here today because they had a dream and they put in long, hard, exhausting work, all that it takes to follow that dream.'

Later, as guests settled into a lunch of carpaccio of fennel with apples and arugula, followed by Reggiano-crusted Chesapeake rockfish, 'dream' seemed the operative word. After all, it's not every day that one enjoys Barolo risotto on state china from the Truman administration. Eric Rodenbeck, founder and creative director of San Francisco-based Stamen and a juror for this year's awards, surveyed the scene as he savoured a last morsel of lemon marjoaline. 'In the end, the decisions were difficult, but we tried to make it about what the country values,' he said of the judging process. 'The National Design Awards - it's not a small thing.'

A string quartet from 'The President's Own' U.S. Marine Band welcomed winners and guests to the state floor entrance hall, where Simmie Knox's 2011 painting of President Bill Clinton proved a popular photo op

A string quartet from 'The President's Own' U.S. Marine Band welcomed winners and guests to the state floor entrance hall, where Simmie Knox's 2011 painting of President Bill Clinton proved a popular photo op

(Image credit: TBC)

A few steps away in the cross hall, cocktails were consumed rather giddily on the distinctive scarlet carpet (familiar from aerial shots of purposefully striding presidents)

A few steps away in the cross hall, cocktails were consumed rather giddily on the distinctive scarlet carpet (familiar from aerial shots of purposefully striding presidents)

(Image credit: TBC)

The vibe in the East Room, the largest in the White House, was simultaneously regal and summery. Chief floral designer Laura Dowling conjured garden-style bouquets at each of the round tables...

The vibe in the East Room, the largest in the White House, was simultaneously regal and summery. Chief floral designer Laura Dowling conjured garden-style bouquets at each of the round tables...

(Image credit: TBC)

... with purple blooms that matched the plum cardstock of the event programs placed at each seat. Guests were treated to carpaccio of fennel with apples and arugula, followed by Reggiano-crusted Chesapeake rockfish

... with purple blooms that matched the plum cardstock of the event programs placed at each seat. Guests were treated to carpaccio of fennel with apples and arugula, followed by Reggiano-crusted Chesapeake rockfish

(Image credit: TBC)

Gates Center for Computer Science and Hillman Center for Future Generation Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA, 2009.

Architecture design award winner: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
Gates Center for Computer Science and Hillman Center for Future Generation Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA, 2009

(Image credit: Timothy Hursley, Nic Lehoux, Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects)

Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center and Davis Garage, Wellesley College, MA, 2004-5

Architecture design award winner: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center and Davis Garage, Wellesley College, MA, 2004-5.

(Image credit: Timothy Hursley)

Museum of the Second World War International Competition, Gdansk, Poland, 2011.

Architecture design award winner: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
Museum of the Second World War International Competition, Gdansk, Poland, 2011.

(Image credit: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects)

Yale University Health Services Building, New Haven, CT, 2010.

Architecture design award winner: Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
Yale University Health Services Building, New Haven, CT, 2010.

(Image credit: Timothy Hursley)

The CityDeck, Green Bay, WI, United States, 2009-13.

Landscape architecture award winner: Stoss Landscape Urbanism
The CityDeck, Green Bay, WI, United States, 2009-13.
Project partners: Vetter Denk Architects, GRAEF, AECOM, WF Baird & Associates, Clark Dietz, Light THIS!, Pine Swallow.

(Image credit: Mike Roemer)

Erie Street Plaza, Milwaukee, WI, United States, 2010.

Landscape architecture award winner: Stoss Landscape Urbanism
Erie Street Plaza, Milwaukee, WI, United States, 2010.
Project partners: Light THIS!, Vetter Denk Architects, GRAEF.

(Image credit: John December/ Stoss Landscape Urbanism)

Erie Street Plaza, Milwaukee, WI, United States, 2010.

Landscape architecture award winner: Stoss Landscape Urbanism
Erie Street Plaza, Milwaukee, WI, United States, 2010.
Project partners: Light THIS!, Vetter Denk Architects, GRAEF.

(Image credit: John December/ Stoss Landscape Urbanism)

Nike Presto watch, 2003-4

Product design award winner: Scott Wilson
Nike Presto watch, 2003-4

(Image credit: Mark Hooper)

SW_1 Collection for Coalesse, 2008-10. Designed by Scott Wilson

Product design award winner: Scott Wilson
SW_1 Collection for Coalesse, 2008-10. Designed by Scott Wilson

(Image credit: Jeremy Frechette, courtesy of Coalesse)

Microsoft XBOX 360 Kinect Sensor, 2008-10. Designed by Scott Wilson in collaboration with Microsoft.

Product design award winner: Scott Wilson
Microsoft XBOX 360 Kinect Sensor, 2008-10. Designed by Scott Wilson in collaboration with Microsoft.

(Image credit: Minimal)

S/S 2011 menswear fashion show rehearsal, Paris, France.

Fashion design award winner: Thom Browne
S/S 2011 menswear fashion show rehearsal, Paris, France.

(Image credit: Dan and Corina Lecca)

S/S 2012 womenswear fashion show, New York

Fashion design award winner: Thom Browne
S/S 2012 womenswear fashion show, New York

(Image credit: Dan and Corina Lecca)

S/S 2012 menswear fashion show, Paris

Fashion design award winner: Thom Browne
S/S 2012 menswear fashion show, Paris

(Image credit: Dan and Corina Lecca)

F/W 2012 womenswear fashion show, New York

Fashion design award winner: Thom Browne
F/W 2012 womenswear fashion show, New York

(Image credit: Dan and Corina Lecca)

Swingline staplers, 1997.

Product design award winner: Scott Wilson
Swingline staplers, 1997.

(Image credit: TBC)

TikTok LunaTik watch kits, 2010-11. Founded and designed by Scott Wilson.

Product design award winner: Scott Wilson
TikTok LunaTik watch kits, 2010-11. Founded and designed by Scott Wilson.

(Image credit: Minimal)

Microsoft Courier, 2008-10. Designed by Scott Wilson MNML in collaboration with Microsoft.

Product design award winner: Scott Wilson
Microsoft Courier, 2008-10. Designed by Scott Wilson MNML in collaboration with Microsoft.

(Image credit: Minimal)

Publication materials, UCLA Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, 1997-2002.

Communication design award winner: Rebeca Méndez
Publication materials, UCLA Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, 1997-2002.
Project partner: UCLA.

(Image credit: Rebeca Méndez Studio)

Suprasensorial exhibition catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2011.

Communication design award winner: Rebeca Méndez
Suprasensorial exhibition catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2011.
Project partner: MOCA.

(Image credit: Rebeca Méndez Studio)

Project Firefly phototherapy, Philippines, 2012. Designed with East Meets West Foundation.

Corporate & Institutional achievement award winner: Design that Matters
Project Firefly phototherapy, Philippines, 2012. Designed with East Meets West Foundation.

(Image credit: Design that Matters)

NeoNurture car-parts infant incubator, 2009. Designed with the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology.

Corporate & Institutional achievement award winner: Design that Matters
NeoNurture car-parts infant incubator, 2009. Designed with the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology.

(Image credit: TBC)