The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd. present the Museum's annual GOOD DESIGN® Awards Program for the most innovative and cutting-edge industrial, product, and graphic designs produced around the world.

The GOOD DESIGN® exhibition program began as a sponsorship between The Merchandise Mart in Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and continues today by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.

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The program called for three shows a year: one during the Chicago winter furniture market in January, another coinciding with the June summer market, and a November show based on the previous two exhibitions. Each year, a different prestigious designer was selected to curate the installation. Charles and Ray designed the 5,300-square-foot space for the inaugural installation in 1950, followed by Finn Juhl, Paul Rudolph, and Alexander Girard.

 

GOOD DESIGN is the oldest and the most prestigious Awards Program organized worldwide. Founded in Chicago in 1950 by the former MoMA curator Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., together with such pioneers in modern design as Charles and Ray Eames, Russel Wright, George Nelson, and Eero Saarinen, GOOD DESIGN honors the yearly achievements of the best industrial and graphic designers and world manufacturers for their pursuit of extraordinary design excellence.