//News & Announcements
//9.20.10
If you've missed the exhibitions of last season
you can see photos and read
reviews here.
//11.25.09
The Design Museum is now on Facebook.
Become a fan.
//7.1.09
Design Museum Centennial posters now for sale!
These can be purchased here through UC Reprographics.
//2011-2012 Hours
Monday - Friday
12:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Sunday
2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Closed holidays, holiday weekends, and school breaks.
After over 35 years and numerous exhibitions in Walker Hall, the UC Davis Design Museum has relocated to Cruess Hall along with the UC Davis Department of Design. The new museum is located in a more accessible part of campus, has approximately 1,000 square feet of exhibition space, and can be found at the main entrance to Cruess Hall.
Enhancing the teaching and research activities of the Department of Design, the UC Davis Design Museum continues to explore how design shapes, improves and makes economically viable the objects, technology and environments we use, inhabit and experience every day.
2011/12 SEASON
WINTER
Need and Desire, Work from blankblank
January 23, 2012 to March 16, 2012
Need and Desire is curated by Rob Zinn, founder of blankblank - a Northern California design firm that works with a select group of designers and artisans to produce furniture, lighting, and limited edition art. Its collection has been exhibited, collected, and specified around the world. The title of this show alludes to the ambiguities Zinn sees between art and design, form and function, business and creativity, and individual and society.
Need and Desire charts the past eight years of blankblank through examples from its collection, including documentation of development and personal insight from Rob Zinn as to the time, environment, and circumstance in which they were created.
About 
Opening Reception and Curator's Talk: January 26, Thursday, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Free Admission
See photos here
SPRING
Design-by-Design, Juried Student Design Competition
April 10, 2012 to May 5, 2012
This annual installation, timed to coincide with the university's Picnic Day, is a lively survey of student talent and creativity that reflects the multi-disciplinary breath of the Department of Design at UC Davis.
Design Museum will be open on Picnic Day, Saturday, April 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
See photos here
Design MFA Graduation Exhibition
May 21, 2012 to June 7, 2012
Working with renowned design faculty, M.F.A. students explore the broader topic of "Design" through
a specific design discipline, drawing on collaborations with the arts, humanities, social sciences and
sciences. It showcases M.F.A. candidates' final research and creative projects.
Soulcraft Clothing: Linking Indian Handcrafts with Sustainable Design
Carol Shu's sustainable thesis collection bridges development research and design practice to explore how fashion design can advance women's cultural, economic and social wellbeing in developing countries. Her designs are the synthesis of her experiences in India interning for two non-governmental handcraft organizations that support women artisans. Embellished with embroidery by artisans in Mumbai and Kutch and made with sustainable and block printed fabrics, her garments are designed to be manipulated by their wearers with features such as adjustable straps and waistbands. Her exhibition highlights the artisans who helped create her garments and shows viewers how they can participate in the design-for-social-change paradigm shift.
Dockable Shelter: Housing for Homeless Families
Esther Kim's design represents the transient nature of life in the emergency shelter by providing temporary housing for homeless families in "upcycled" shipping containers that dock into a high-rise steel frame. Located in San Francisco's historic Tenderloin district, the tower is situated behind the preserved front portion of an existing SRO hotel, which serves as entrance, art gallery and social service facility. The unexpected tower of containers-objects typically associated with freight and portability-raises consciousness of the need for both new housing and improved living conditions within the notoriously blighted SROs.
FALL
Gyre, A Grand Tragedy of the Commons
October 10, 2011 to December 2, 2011
This exhibition consists of two parts: photographs and an arrangement of flotsam objects gathered from the North Pacific Gyre, and a video installation called “Kamilo Twisted Waters”, a moving mandala that reflects the fouling of the oceans. Gaylor has developed the installation in response to plastic waste floating in the North Pacific Gyre. Known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch it is growing rapidly and now covers an estimated area twice the size of the continental United States. It is the world’s largest rubbish dump trapped in place by circulating ocean currents.
Artist Presentation followed by the Opening Reception: October 16, Sunday, 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
See photos here
Our Commitment
The UC Davis Design Museum is a founding adopter of the Green Museums Accord.
The Accord is a set of five principles that propel museums to become environmental leaders, and is administered by the California Association of Museums and the Green Museums Initiative.
To learn more about green museums and the Accord, visit:
www.greenmuseums.info
To learn more about green exhibition design, visit:
www.greendesignwiki.com