Honoring Bill Moggridge
The Museum of Contemporary Craft honors Bill Moggridge, director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, who passed away at the age of 69, following a battle with cancer.
Moggridge lived a life dedicated to the practice of design. His impact ripples into the lives of the every person, from the personal to the national. He designed the first laptop computer and leading the Cooper-Hewitt as director into the finish of its largest capital improvement. His legacy is felt here in Portland, where Design With the Other 90%: CITIES, currently on view from the Cooper-Hewitt, examines humanitarian design.
Moogridge served as the Cooper-Hewitt’s fourth director (2010-2012) establishing the Museum as the preeminent design resource for the nation. He is known for heralding design into the everyday pockets of everyday living. Of design, he says, “few people think about it or are aware of it. But there is nothing made by human beings that does not involve a design decision somewhere.”
Moggridge is known for heralding design into the pockets of everyday living. Of design, he says, “[f]ew people think about it or are aware of it. But there is nothing made by human beings that does not involve a design decision somewhere. One of his colleagues Tim Brown said that Bill Moggridge “approached every technology with a lovely naivete… He was never interested in technology for technology’s sake but only in what ti could do to help people have more interesting lives.”