Celebrating Bay Area treasure Ted Cohen’s life, methods, and career through a museum exhibition design retrospective

February 12–June 5, 2022

As one of the Bay Area’s most respected exhibition designers, Ted Cohen created inspirational museum, gallery, and private art environments for collectors for 62 years. The exhibition follows Cohen’s published retrospective book The Object in Its Place: The Art of Exhibition Design by Ted Cohen, written by Signe Mayfield, and pays tribute to his life, career, and methods in exhibition design. Cohen handpicked each artwork for the exhibition, creating a selection from some of his favorite places, artists, and collectors giving visitors an inspiring glimpse into the aesthetic “worlds” he created over the years. 

Living with Scents, featuring over 40 international designers, challenges the way we relate to the world through olfactory design.

February 12–June 5, 2022

The Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) is pleased to announce “Living with Scents” featuring over 40 designers and artists from around the world whose work reflects and participates in the growing culturalization of all things olfactory. By considering the interactions of minds, bodies, and things, they mediate scents in innovative ways to raise a form of new sensory awareness. Guest curated by Elisabetta Pisu and Clara Muller, Living with Scents will focus on objects, not just scented products, but creative and artful interfaces to deliver scents with manifold design outcomes, from the hedonic to the functional.

Call & Response: Craft as a Tool for Activism

July 31, 2021

The Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) is pleased to announce Call & Response: Craft as a Tool for Activism, a nationwide virtual exhibition and artist marketplace, highlighting 50 artists who are working at the crucial intersection of craft and activism by uplifting their political ideals and their communities through their medium of choice.

This past May, MCD launched an open call to artists and craftspeople resulting in 421 submissions employing a diverse range of mediums, practices, and concepts.

Redefining Fashion Through Accessibility: Mode Brut

September 4, 2021–January 23, 2022

The Museum of Craft and Design is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00 AM–5:00 PM and Sundays 12:00–5:00 PM. Masks will be required for all visitors and available at the front desk if needed. For more information on MCD’s safety policies and to purchase tickets visit sfmcd.org/visit.

Encoded Holidays Release

February 26–August 25, 2021

The Museum of Craft and Design presents Encoded Holidays: Gary Hutton and Tom Bonauro. Over a thirty-year period from 1987-2017, Bay Area designers Gary Hutton and Tom Bonauro collaborated on annual holiday cards often referred to as “sculptures-in-a-box.”

Announcing the West Coast debut and the last exhibition stop for Design by Time

January 23–April 25, 2021

The Museum of Craft and Design presents Design by Time, opening January 23 through April 25, 2021. Organized by Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and curated by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of c2-curatorsquared, Design by Time explores how the dynamic passage of time can be embodied within design objects.

MOTO MMXX

The Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) presents MOTO MMXX, opening August 22 and on view through January 3, 2020. Originally slated to open in May of 2020, MOTO MMXX was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Design by Distance

June 8-December 31, 2020

An online exhibition showcasing how designers from around the world are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Explore the Invisible Word of Design with Roman Mars on November 14

November 14, 2019

With over 360 million downloads, 99% Invisible is one of the most popular design podcasts in the world. MCD welcomes host and creator Roman Mars to Minnesota Street Project for a live multimedia presentation examining unnoticed design that shapes our world.

MCD Announces New Exhibitions Exploring Issues of Climate Change in the Bay Area and Beyond

December 19, 2019–May 3, 2020

This winter, the Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) will present two new, dynamic exhibitions exploring the ways that creative individuals are addressing issues of climate change.