Kevin Walz

My kindergarten teacher told my parents, ‘He’s either an artist or a designer, there’s no other choice. That’s all he does.’

I never saw the boundary between the two disciplines. I knew art usually had no client and design needed to solve a problem, but both could speak about our time and culture in related ways. While I studied fine arts for four years, I have no degree and I never studied design. My teacher was observation.

I have had my own design firm for at least 45 years. I have designed retail spaces, offices, showrooms, residential spaces, new houses, building conversions, collections of furniture, lighting, hardware, bath and kitchen fixtures, carpets, wall coverings, books, film sets, I have curated and designed gallery exhibitions and I make art. Also I keep my own broth, granola, ice cream and body butter stocked at all times.

My work has been featured in numerous periodicals, books and is represented in several museums. I am in the Interior Design Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Rome Prize, as well as numerous other design awards.

I have taught and lectured throughout my career and am currently teaching in the School of Design at Pratt Institute.

The New York Studio School; B.F.A., Pratt Institute.

Exhibitions

2012-13 125 Icons, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York

2012 AltaModaRoma, Rome

2010 “Home Sweet Home”, 7Eleven Gallery, New York

2009 Furniture and Lighting, Ralph Pucci International, Los Angeles

2008 Art, Furniture and Lighting, Ralph Pucci International, New York

2007 Detour: The Moleskin Notebook Experience

2004 “Insomnia,” Cenci Gallery, RISD, Rome

2003 November “the chair,” The Galleries of the American Academy in Rome

2003 April “FAAR OUT: The American Academy in Rome, Art Director’s Club Gallery

2002 “Kevin Walz: Furniture /Art ” Ralph Pucci International, New York

2001-2002 “Carrefour de la creation,” Centre Pompidou, Paris

2001 June and November Studiaperti, Commune di Roma, Rome

2001 “Beauty without Regret,” Bellas Artes Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

1999 Corian Design Exhibition, Spazio Ciovassino, Milan

1997 “Good Design,” Chicago Athenaeum, Chicago

1997 “Kevin Walz: Art,” American Academy in Rome, Rome

1996 “New Products/Kevin Walz,” Exhibit, DesignTex, New York

1995 Group Show, American Academy in Rome, Rome

1993 Group Show, Tz’Art Gallery, New York

1991 Progressive Architecture Affordable Housing Exhibition, Columbus, OH

1990 “Mondo Materialis,” Cooper Hewett, New York

1989 “Edible Architecture,” Sotheby’s, New York

1989 “Chair Art,” Scott-Fanton Museum, CT

1976 Group Show, Artist’s Space, New York

Awards, Honors

Prototypes for Humanity, Dubai, invited participant, Emergency Housing, Pratt Institute

Guest Artist of David Thomson, The Rauschenberg Foundation

The Advisory Board, American Academy of Rome

Best Of Year, Interior Design

Anna and Joseph Syrop Annual Lecture, The Selz Foundation, Pratt Institute

Golden ADEX Award, Design Journal, “Aqua” Carpet for Tufenkian Carpets

Musee Des Beaux-Arts De Montreal Permanent Collection, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, The KorQ|Walz Pull up Chair

ICFF Editorial Board Award, The KorQ|Walz Collection

Chicago Athenaeum Permanent Collection, The KorQ Pull Up Chair

Metropolitan Home Design 100

The Rome Prize, The American Academy in Rome

Interior Design The Interior Design Hall of Fame

ID Review/Walz Design Offices

Interiors Award for Best Low Budget Design/Bronstein Berman

     and Assoc. Offices

Interiors Award for Best Office Design/Island Records Offices

ID Review/Island Records Offices

ID Review/Midtown Electric Offices

IBD Award/Steel Bar Lamp

ID Review/Kevin Walz Furniture Collection for Arc International

ID Review/Halo Lighting Showroom and Offices

Selected Publications

2021 Interior Design

2017 The Cut, New York Magazine

2015 The New Yorker

2014 The New York Times

2014 Interior Design

2014 Interiors and Sources

2014 Interior Design Neocon Daily

2012 Design After Modernism | Judith Gura | Norton

2012 Interior Design | March

2011 Interior Design Best of Year – Architecture and Design | Interior Design

2011 Wall \ Ralph Pucci | Glitterati Publishers

2011 New York Times Styles Magazine | Fall

2011 Interior Design | August

2010 Fast Company | October

2009 Interior Design | September

2009 Show | Ralph Pucci | Glietterati Publishers

2008 Time Magazine | December

2008 Interior Design | July

2008 New York Times Style Magazine | Fall

2008 Process: 50 Product Designs from Concept to Manufacture | Jennifer Hudson | Lawrence King Publishers

2007 Detour: The Moleskin Notebook Experience

2007 Domesticities | Pilar Viladas | Bullfinch Press

2007 Interior Design | March

2006 Interior Design | September

2006 Interior Design | June

2005 Contemporary World Interiors | Susan Yelavich |Phaidon Press

2004 Metropolis | December

2004 Renovate | Fred Bernstein | Filapacchi Publishing USA

2004 Interior Design | Fall Market | October

2004 Interior Design | COVER STORY | September

2004 Interior Design | March

2004 House and Garden | January

2003 In View | Issue 20

2003 Wallpaper July-August

2003 20th-21^st Century Design | Phillips, New York | June