“Tablescapes: Designs for Dining,” offered a creative timeline of dining experiences through three distinct installations. At the center of the exhibition was Cooper Hewitt’s surtout de table, a magnificent, newly conserved treasure from the museum’s expansive collection of over 210,000 design objects that once ornamented the tables of French nobility at the turn of the 19th century. The exhibition also highlighted the work of the under-recognized but influential textile designer Marguerita Mergentime, active in the 1920s and ‘30s. Pivoting to address 21st-century concerns, the exhibition debuted experimental and collaborative products commissioned from National Design Award-winning designers Joe Doucet and Mary Ping.
Role: Identity Design and Exhibition Design
Creative Direction: Paul Carlos and Urshula Barbour, Pure+Applied
Museum: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Exhibition Dates: Friday, October 5 2018 through Sunday, April 14 2019
Photography: Liam Christian
