As Seen In: Rescued By Design

We want to hop a plane to Rio or Bangkok after reading Michael Kimmelman's story in Sunday's New York Times on the new show "Design With the Other 90 Percent: Cities."

Organized by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum but exhibiting in the United Nations visitors’ lobby, it focuses on projects worldwide turning slums into more humane, modern places to live. Among those showcased is the Rio de Janeiro favela we gave a shout out to here last summer.

To wit, Kimmelman writes: "Design shows may conjure up fizzy displays of Van Cleef & Arpels or stylish tributes to Helvetica and classic automobiles. Design implies for most people the beautiful things an affluent society makes for itself.

This show is not about that kind of design…"

And so the story begins…