Award Tops Off Tupperware’s Reputation

This could be the biggest Tupperware party ever. The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York announced winners and finalists in the annual National Design Awards. The award for Corporate Achievement goes to the Tupperware Corp.

Founded in 1946 by Earl Silas Tupper, the company is best known for selling its kitchen wares via Tupperware parties hosted by sales consultants.

By the end of the last century though, the Orlando, Fla.-based company had expanded its marketing menu to selling from from mall kiosks and the Internet. Now there’s more: Tupperware will be on the shelves at Target stores before month’s end.

The awards program, launched at the White House in 2000 through the White House Millennium Council, celebrates design in various disciplines. Besides the category won by Tupperware, the other annual awards include Lifetime Achievement to theater-opera director and designer Robert Wilson; and Design Patron to Stanley Marcus, chairman emeritus of Neiman Marcus.

The awards will be presented Nov. 14 at the Cooper-Hewitt in Manhattan, along with the announcement of winners for additional awards in architecture, communications, environment and product design.

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The MAK Center for Art and Architecture is showing “20/35,” a group exhibition of work by local and international artists. The exhibit examines the structure of L.A.’s urban and suburban spaces from the viewpoint of each artist.

The exhibition can be viewed through Oct. 28 at Schindler House in West Hollywood, where visitors can see videos, photographs and visit the kitchen altered by local artist David Hullfish Bailey, who stocked it with emergency supplies--from canned and bottled goods to flashlights and blankets. Call (323) 651-1510

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A black-tie event is coming up for the L.A.chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The 2001 AIA/Los Angeles Design Awards gala is Oct. 25 at the Park Plaza Hotel, 607 S. Park View St., L.A. Tickets are $185 per person; $150 for AIA members. Call (213) 639-0777.

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Candace A. Wedlan can be reached at candace.wedlan@latimes.com.