Collab
Collab is a group of design professionals and enthusiasts who support modern and contemporary design at the Museum. Enjoy exhibition previews, field trips, talks, special access to the Museum’s design collection, and opportunities to mingle with design curators and visionaries. View calendar >>Become a Collab Member
Membership contributions fund Collab activities and support acquisitions, exhibitions, publications, and programs. Benefits include:- Invitations and discounted tickets to special Collab events
- Discounts on design books in the Museum Store
Design Excellence Award. Photograph by Clint Blowers
2018 Collab Design Excellence Award: Dieter Rams
Each year Collab presents the Design Excellence Award to a design professional or manufacturer whose impact on the field is inspirational. This year we honor German architect and designer Dieter Rams, who developed a philosophy for rational, responsible, and enduring design that continues to resonate across the globe. Explore his work in the exhibition Dieter Rams: Principled Design. Past recipients of this prestigious award >>- 2017 Patricia Urquiola
- 2016 Design Excellence: New Generation Oki Sato, Faye Toogood & Zanini de Zanine
- 2015 Bruce Mau
- 2014 Rolf Fehlbaum of Vitra
- 2013 Marc Newson
- 2012 Paula Scher and Seymour Chwast
- 2011 Zaha Hadid
- 2010 Alberto Alessi
- 2009 Marcel Wanders
- 2008 Frank O. Gehry
- 2006 Georg Jensen
- 2005 Gaetano Pesce
- 2004 Florence Knoll Bassett
- 2003 Richard Gluckman
- 2002 Ingo Maurer
- 2001 No award given
- 2000 Milton Glaser
- 1999 Jonathan Ive, Maya Lin, and Karim Rashid
- 1998 Sir Terence Conran
- 1997 Philippe Starck and Ian Schrager
- 1996 Richard Meier
- 1995 Michael Graves
- 1994 Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown
- 1993 Swid Powell
- 1991 Jack Lenor Larsen
- 1989 Niels Diffrient
- 1988 Vignelli Associates
- 1986 George Nakashima