The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum has added new acquisitions spanning centuries and disciplines such as furniture, textiles, and wallcoverings. “The museum’s acquisition policy places emphasis on innovation and process, integrating important developments in contemporary design with those of the past reflected in the collection,” says Caroline Baumann, acting director of the museum. “Each curatorial department has a priority acquisition strategy, covering both historic objects and areas, as well as contemporary master-works, digital acquisitions and emerging forms of design.”

Highlighted objects include:

• A circa-1875 tripartite bookcase by the Herter Brothers (pictured right), well-known furniture makers in the American 19th-century Aesthetic Movement
• “Three Designs for Tables” drawing by Michele de Lucchi, which explores playful ideas for a table, including a leaning single-column base buttressed by an arc-shaped support
• The 2010 “Leaf table” drawing by Joris Laarman, which documents the 3-D prototyping process
• The 2012 Merton blanket, designed by Wallace Sewell, featuring an abstract composition that calls to mind the early tapestry work of Anni Albers and Gunta Stölzl
• The 2012 blanket Index Collection by Raw Color, which uses a series of boxes similar to the screen keys seen on the sides of printed fabrics
• A hand-painted 1800–1830 Chinese scenic paper with a large central motif of a flowering tree, joined by exotic birds and rocky formations
• The circa-1820 wallcovering “Psyche Bringing Venus a Goblet of Water from the Fountain of Youth” by Dufour et Leroy (pictured above left)