Design for the Other 90% Exhibition
Project: Design for the Other 90% Exhibit
Location: Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York
Square Footage: 3,300sf
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.” —Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises
‘Design for the Other 90%’, a temporary outdoor exhibition installed at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, showcased affordable objects designed for the more than five billion people in the world (90% of the population) living in poverty or recovering from natural disasters. Featured were more than thirty works, addressing necessities such as shelter, food, drinking water, and sanitation, each demonstrating how design is capable of transforming lives. For the exhibit’s design, Studio Lindfors stressed the use of recycled building components to reduce the amount of usable materials placed in landfills. Informational graphic panels were printed on 100% recyclable cotton canvas rather than typical plastic films. Three curvilinear walls that define and organize the space were constructed of salvaged materials such as old shipping pallets and heavy timbers pulled from local warehouses. At the conclusion of the exhibition a lumber yard purchased the timbers for resale, resulting in zero waste and allowing for the exhibit to be just a step in the material’s lifecycle.