Cooper-Hewitt Names Bill Moggridge Museum Director

The designer of the first commercial laptop, Bill Moggridge, has a new credit to his name: the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s new director. Moggridge will be the first design practitioner to run the New York museum, beginning in March when its $64 million renovation is complete. Though he has no experience as an arts administrator, Moggridge’s background as a businessman and industrial designer could help increase visibility, or so the Smithsonian hopes. “We look to Bill as someone who has a national and international reputation in the design world,” said the chairman of the Smithsonian’s search committee. Moggridge says he looks forward to stepping away from the design side he’s worked in for over 40 years. “To have a national opportunity on a much greater scale is very exciting,” Moggridge said. It will certainly be larger for the designer because the Cooper-Hewitt’s reconstruction will create about 60 percent more exhibition gallery space, a new library, and additional classrooms for the museum’s master’s program. The transformation also allows Moggridge time to become familiar with Cooper-Hewitt’s work before reopening to the public in 2013.