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Modern Design Across Borders

November 20, 2025–June 28, 2026
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

Modern Design Across Borders examines the cross-cultural web of connections among people, ideas, and movements that made modern design's remarkable reach and lasting impact possible. Focusing on five spotlight subjects within the global story of interwar design—transportation, the 1925 Paris Expo, tea and coffee, plywood, and cocktail culture—the exhibition homes in on the innovation and trends that spread from country to country, expressing progress and new ideals. Featuring products by designers such as Norman Bel Geddes, Josef Hoffmann, Alvar Aalto, and Charles and Ray Eames, Modern Design Across Borders draws mainly from the Wolfsonian collection and teases out the trademark design choices (geometry, clean lines, functionality) that defined novel visual languages of modern life and continue to shape design today.

Organized in celebration of The Wolfsonian's 30th anniversary.

 

Place:
6th Floor
Curator:
Silvia Barisione
Credit:
Modern Design Across Borders is organized by The Wolfsonian–FIU.

 

Object Highlights

A

Motorcycle, BMW R 60/2, 1960
Bayerische Motoren Werke, Munich, Germany, manufacturer, 1962 
Stainless steel, cast iron, aluminum, paint, rubber, plastic

Sidecar, Steib S500, c. 1955
Steib, Nuremberg, Germany, manufacturer
Stainless steel, cast iron, aluminum, paint, rubber, plastic, leatherette
The Wolfsonian–FIU, Gift of Dr. David and Linda Frankel, 2022.9.1–.2

A vertical poster featuring orange and white buildings emitting three large plumes of black smoke that blend into swirling clouds outlined in brown, with text at the bottom reading: “MINISTÈRE DU COMMERCE ET DE L’INDUSTRIE / EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE ARTS DÉCORATIFS ET INDUSTRIELS MODERNES / AVRIL PARIS. 1925 OCTOBRE.”

Poster, Ministère du Commerce et de l'Industrie Exposition Internationale Arts Décoratifs Et Industriels Modernes [Trade Ministry and Modern Industrialists International Decorative Arts Exhibition], 1925
Charles Loupot (French, 1892–1962), designer
Les Editions de l'Image, Paris, publisher
Offset lithograph
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, 86.4.8

A black-and-white ceramic coffee and tea set arranged in three overlapping rows, with pieces including a teapot, a coffee pot, a sugar bowl, a creamer, a coffee cup with saucer, and a tea cup with saucer

Coffee and tea service, Hallcraft Tomorrow's Classic, c. 1949
Eva Zeisel (American, b. Hungary, 1906–2011), designer
Hall China Company, East Liverpool, Ohio, manufacturer
Glazed earthenware
The Wolfsonian–FIU, Gift of Charles Venable and Martin Webb, 2021.40.218 a,b

A sculptural wooden armchair made from a single continuous piece of bent plywood, featuring flowing curves that form the backrest, seat, arms, and legs in an unbroken shape

Armchair, Bent Plywood Armchair (BPAC), 1934
Gerald Summers (British, b. Egypt, 1899–1967), designer
Makers of Simple Furniture, London, maker
Grange Furnishing Stores, Harrow-Middlesex, England, retailer
Birch plywood
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, 85.11.16

A cocktail shaker with a silver-colored cylindrical base and a red, bullet-shaped top with a spout and a small silver cap

Seltzer bottle, Soda King Syphon, 1938
Norman Bel Geddes (American, 1893–1958) and Worthen Paxton (American, 1905–1977), designers
Walter Kidde Sales Company, Inc., Bloomfield, New Jersey, manufacturer
Chrome-plated and enameled metal, brass, rubber
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, 83.15.3

Recommended Resources

  • David A. Hanks and Anne Hoy. American Streamlined Design: The World of Tomorrow. Paris: Éditions Flammarion, 2005.
  • David Raizman. History of Modern Design. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2023.
  • Penny Sparke and the Kravis Design Center. Industrial Design in the Modern Age. New York: Rizzoli Electa, 2018.
  • Jewel Stern and Christopher Long. The Vanguard: Central European Émigrés and American Modern Design, 1910–1940. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025.
  • Christopher Wilk and Elizabeth Bisley. Plywood: A Material Story. London: Thames & Hudson in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2017.