- Client: American Folk Art Museum at Park Avenue Armory
- Summary: Exhibition Planning and Design
- Project Type: Museums
- Location: New York , NY
- Date: March 25, 2011 - March 30, 2011
- Size: 55,000 square feet
Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red & White Quilts
Designed for the American Folk Art Museum and presented at the Park Avenue Armory, this exhibition featured 651 quilts on loan from the collection of Joanna S. Rose.
Six 30-foot-high cylinders of red-and-white quilts surround a 50-foot-high spiral of quilts rising out of a circle of chairs: an homage to the vibrancy and creativity of quilters working together through the generations. Thinc responded to the collector's wish to see all the quilts on display simultaneously, and the curator's desire that they be arranged not by pattern, time period, or region, but in a visually exciting manner. The resulting space speaks to the geometry, creativity and social nature of community quilting circles, striking a balance between immense quantity and intricate detail. The exhibition set a record for weekly attendance at an Armory show, drawing quilters and non-quilters into an exuberant experience that grew daily through word-of-mouth and wide-ranging press attention.
"Designed for the American Folk Art Museum and presented at New York's Park Avenue Armory, this playground of visual and tactile delight...done with steadfast grace and exquisite vision can afford us a glipse of heaven on earth."
- Simon Schama, CBE, FRSL
AWARDS
-
Good Design Award
Awarded By: The Chicago Athenaeum
-
Spark: Spaces, Pro Award
Awarded By: Spark!
-
'Justified' Competition Selected Case Study
(PDF)
Awarded By: American Institute of Graphic Arts, AIGA
-
Core77 Design Awards: Professional Notable
(PDF)
Interiors & Exhibitions Category
Awarded By: Core77
-
IDEA Award, Bronze Winner
Environments Category
Awarded By: Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
-
SEGD Global Design Award Program: Merit Award
(PDF)
Awarded By: SEGD Global Design Award Program
-
AZ Awards
(PDF)
Best Temporary Architecture
Awarded By: Azure Magazine
IN THE NEWS
-
Video
"Martha Stewart visits Infinite Variety at the Park Avenue Armory"
Martha Stewart Blog -
Press
"Red and White Quilts: Infinite Variety Book"
American Folk Art Museum -
Publications
"Infinite Variety Feature"
EG Magazine [Download PDF] -
Press
"AIGA 'Justified' Competition Selects Infinite Variety for Outstanding Case Studies"
AIGA -
Web
"Case Study: Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts"
AIGA -
Publications
"The Year in Art by Jerry Salz"
New York Magazine -
Press
"Web-Exclusive Interview - Thinc Design Principal Tom Hennes by John Czarnecki"
Contract Magazine [Download PDF] -
Web
"Exhibits (Thinc Design): Infinite Variety for the American Folk Art Museum"
Spool Five -
Publications
"Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts"
Financial Times [Download PDF] -
Web
"Women's Work and the Latest Thing"
New York Social Diary [Download PDF] -
Publications
"Infinite Variety - a Wall Street Journal Photo of the Week"
The Wall Street Journal -
Publications
"What's Red and White and Quilted All Over?"
The Wall Street Journal [Download PDF]