Wool carders, 2012. Photographed by Christopher Payne (American, born 1968). S & D Spinning Mill (Millbury, Massachusetts). Courtesy of the artist.
This fall, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will present “Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne,” an exhibition featuring Payne’s intricately detailed photography of America’s factories. On view from Nov. 21 through spring 2026, the exhibition brings together more than 70 large-format photographs captured by Payne over a decade-long photographic journey to learn more about the craft of both industrial and artisanal making in the United States.
Recently published in the book Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne (Abrams, 2023), Payne’s photographs highlight the traditional craftsmanship behind the creation of musical instruments, flags, footballs and pinball machines, as well as the intricate hand processes still critical to creating the most advanced products, ranging from microchips to the Giant Magellan Telescope. The exhibition also will feature new photographic works not seen before, including images of a Herman Miller furniture factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan; New Balance sneakers being made in Lawrence, Massachusetts; and Alstom high-speed rail trains in Hornell, New York.
The first large-scale photography exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, “Made in America” showcases the design process through photography in a way that brings the object, the machine and the hand together. Payne’s photographs highlight manufacturing as a timeless and fundamental function of the design process.
“Payne’s photographs satisfy our deep curiosity to know how things are made, revealing both the essence of the work being performed and the grace of a skilled maker who brings craft, passion and technological savvy to the process,” said Susan Brown, the exhibition’s curator. “Through this exhibition, which has been years in the making, visitors will glimpse a world that is often hidden from view, from the New England textile mills that were among the country’s founding industries to the newest plants for building rockets, quantum computers and fusion reactors.”
“My photographs are a celebration of the making of things, of the transformation of raw materials into useful objects and the human skill and mechanical precision brought to bear on these materials that give them form and purpose,” Payne said. “They are also a celebration of teamwork and community, revealing how people of varying ages and skill levels come together to work toward a common goal.”
Precision engineering and interchangeable parts are core components of mass production, and the endlessly repeating identical forms are a key visual component of industrial photography. Payne crafts photographs with aesthetic attention to the design elements of scale, form and color—often waiting until a critical stage in the manufacturing process is reached or a particular color is being run on the production line—to achieve the most compelling composition. The objects photographed as they are made range in size from marshmallow chicks and colored pencils to tractors and jumbo jets—with the human body often serving as a visual point of reference.
Planned as part of the Smithsonian’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence in 2026, the exhibition reveals America’s factories as sites of human ingenuity and innovation. “Made in America” tells a celebratory story about America’s industrial past and technological future, made by hand and machine together.
About Christopher Payne
Trained as an architect, Payne (b. 1968) is fascinated by design, assembly and the built form. His latest book is Made in America (Abrams Books, 2023). Payne’s earlier books include Making Steinway: An American Workplace, North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City, Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals and New York’s Forgotten Substations: The Power Behind the Subway. Payne’s work has appeared frequently in The New York Times Magazine and in other major publications around the world, including The New Yorker, National Geographic, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Time and Wired, among many others.
Acknowledgments
The exhibition is organized by Susan Brown, associate curator and acting head of textiles at Cooper Hewitt.
Exhibition design and graphic design are by TSKP x ikd.
Support
“Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne” received support from Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation’s 250th. Signature support for Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. This exhibition is also made possible by New Balance.
About Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Cooper Hewitt is America’s design museum. Inclusive, innovative and experimental, the museum’s dynamic exhibitions, education programs, master’s program, publications and online resources inspire, educate and empower people through design. An integral part of the Smithsonian Institution—the world’s largest museum, education and research complex—Cooper Hewitt is located on New York City’s Museum Mile in the landmarked Carnegie Mansion. Steward of one of the world’s most diverse and comprehensive design collections—over 215,000 objects that range from an ancient Egyptian faience cup dating to about 1100 BC to contemporary 3D-printed objects and digital code—Cooper Hewitt welcomes everyone to discover the importance of design and its power to change the world.
For more information, visit www.cooperhewitt.org or follow @cooperhewitt on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
# # #
SI-128-2025
