On February 25, Cooper Hewitt and the Smithsonian Design Museum announced the recipients of the 2026 National Design Awards, among whom was Indigenous textile artist Josh Tafoya, who received the Fashion Design award.
Launched in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards recognize excellence and leadership across design fields and honor winners in 10 categories. Recipients are chosen by a multidisciplinary jury of design practitioners, educators, and leaders, and they will be celebrated at the Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala on May 19 in New York City.
Cooper Hewitt also announced expanded public programming, including a new series of conversations between Nicanor and the award recipients. This summer, the museum plans to open “Design Across Time: Exploring the Smithsonian’s Design Collection,” a multi-year installation that will bring more of its permanent collection into sustained public view, including fashion and textiles.
This year’s honorees include Robert Earl Paige (Design Visionary), Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman (Climate Action), Mattaforma (Emerging Designer), Frida Escobedo Studio (Architecture), Thought Matter (Communication Design), Laura Kurgan (Digital Design), Charlap Hyman & Herrero (Interior Design), Ten Eyck Landscape Architects (Landscape Architecture), and Berea College Student Craft (Product Design), alongside Tafoya in Fashion Design.
“At Cooper Hewitt, we celebrate design not only for its impact and innovation, but also for its role as a civic force—one that reflects shared values rooted in the common good, fuels creativity and shapes everyday life,” said Maria Nicanor, director of Cooper Hewitt.
Jury chair Aric Chen described the awards as a way to highlight designers and communities whose work reflects the breadth of American creativity. It is that framing that gains specificity through Tafoya’s selection, since the Fashion Design award recognizes forward-thinking work and Tafoya’s textile design explores Indigenous identities and traditional practices, drawing on his Genízaro, Spanish, and Chicano heritages, through a contemporary lens.
In an industry where Indigenous imagery is frequently misappropriated and marketed as a generic “Southwestern” aesthetic that detaches its cultural significance from the people, histories, and labor that created it, Tafoya’s work is especially significant. His designs blend the ancestral knowledge passed down from his family and the communities he grew up in with his own life experiences and design practices, marrying traditional cultural crafts and practices with contemporary textile design. It challenges and rejects the notion of Indigenous design as merely aesthetic, as well as the idea of choosing between traditional and contemporary design practices and living.
Tafoya’s win marks an important moment not only for his career, but for Indigenous fashion. It marks institutional acknowledgment of the growing talent and influence of Indigenous designers within the industry and their belonging and importance in conversations regarding the future of American design practices.
Congratulations, Josh Tafoya!
Discover more from Red Pop! News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
