The Walker Art Center became the first U.S. museum to devote permanent gallery space to modern design when it opened The Everyday Art Gallery in January 1946. It was not a permanent design collection, but rather featured changing exhibitions of well-designed products and a reference library of books and information about manufacturers.

The Everyday Art Gallery had two objectives: to use design as a bridge for the public between the practical and more accessible products of modern design and the abstract, often unfamiliar, world of modern art; and to stimulate consumer demand for well-designed products. In order to promote "good design" locally, the Gallery featured well-designed products from Minneapolis stores and hosted its annual winter holiday exhibit, Useful Gifts.

The timing of the Galleryıs opening could not have been more ideal. Not only were Americans ready to forsake the austerity of wartime shortages and rationing, but many businesses that had prospered during the war were eager to continue high levels of productivity in a prosperous peacetime economy. Designers, too, were eager to develop products and many experimented with new materials and techniques. Under the leadership of its first curator, Hilde Reiss, the Gallery originated many important exhibitions such as Contemporary Ceramics (1946), Made in Scandinavia (1947), and Plastics in the Home (1947), all of which have been updated in this gallery to include many of todayıs most innovative designers, manufacturers, and products.

In 1954, The Everyday Art Gallery was renamed the Design Gallery. In 1962, the Walker ceased naming its galleries and integrated design exhibitions into its overall programming.