'''James John Walrod''' (August 25, 1961 – September 25, 2017) was often referred to as a “design guru".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wolf|first1=Jaime|title=What A Design Guru Really Does|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/01/magazine/what-a-design-guru-really-does.html|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times (magazine)|date=December 1, 2002}}</ref> A self-taught interior design consultant and collector of rare and unusual art, design and pop culture works, Walrod was also considered an expert in the field of mid century and Postmodern design.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/obituaries/jim-walrod-sought-after-guide-to-worlds-of-design-dies-at-56.html|title=Jim Walrod, Sought-After Guide to Worlds of Design, Dies at 56|newspaper=The New York Times|date=6 October 2017|last1=Genzlinger|first1=Neil}}</ref>
In the 1980s, Walrod was an assistant art director for the Italian fashion house, [http://www.fiorucci.it/ Fiorucci].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Chaplin|first1=Julia|title=Once So Hot and Now, Can It Be Again?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/10/style/once-so-hot-and-now-can-it-be-again.html|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times|date=June 10, 2001}}</ref> Mike D of the Beastie Boys originally coined another of his monikers “the furniture pimp”, used by the press<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/5392244/1998_rolling_stone_covers/photo/14/medium/masterp 1998 Rolling Stone Cover]{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Walrod was born in 1961 in Jersey City, New Jersey and died in 2017 in New York City of a suspected heart attack.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Genzlinger|first1=Neil|title=Jim Walrod, Sought-After Guide to Worlds of Design, Dies at 56|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/obituaries/jim-walrod-sought-after-guide-to-worlds-of-design-dies-at-56.html|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times|date=October 6, 2017|page=B6}}</ref>
==Projects== Walrod consulted on interiors for architects Jean Nouvel and [http://www.gluckmanmayner.net/GMA.htm Richard Gluckman] and his collaboration with boutique hotelier, Andre Balazs, resulted in [https://web.archive.org/web/20170726022631/http://www.standardhotel.com/ The Standard Downtown LA] hotel.
Walrod worked with club and restaurant impresario team Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/reviews/restaurant/4573/ |title=Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson (''New York'' magazine article) |access-date=2006-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309155146/http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/reviews/restaurant/4573/ |archive-date=2005-03-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to create [http://www.theparknyc.com The Park] restaurant.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hamilton|first1=William L.|title=California Dreaming Updated for the 21st Century|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/25/style/california-dreaming-updated-for-the-21st-century.html|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times|date=February 25, 2001}}</ref> and after 9/11 he designed the interiors of [http://www.colors-nyc.com Colors] restaurant, which is operated by the former employees of the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center. Opened in 2006, Colors was "inspired by the optimism of the 1939 World's Fair", according to Walrod.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Brake|first1=Alan G.|title=Slide Show|url=https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2006/01/11/garden/20060112_CURR_SLIDESHOW_5.html|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times|date=2006}}</ref>
Walrod designed Nolita's [https://web.archive.org/web/20060605145855/http://www.stevenalan.com/shop/stores.php Steven Alan Annex],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/shopping/columns/15182/ |title=(''New York'' magazine article) |access-date=2006-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525224716/http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/shopping/columns/15182/ |archive-date=2006-05-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the additions to the line of hipster fashion and lifestyle emporiums of designer, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060605145909/http://www.stevenalan.com/shop/aboutus.php Steven Alan], completing projects in the West Village, at [https://web.archive.org/web/20060421012817/http://www.stevenalan.com/shop/press_stores.php Steven Alan Upper West Side] and NoLita.
Latterly, Walrod's commercial projects included designing [http://www.wallstreetdistrict.com/index.php?page=gild Gild Hall], a business class hotel in the financial district of Manhattan, and Thompson LES [http://www.thompsonhotels.com Thompson LES] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080707103828/http://www.thompsonhotels.com/ |date=2008-07-07 }}, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Allen Street, for the Thompson Hotel Group. He also co-curated a show at Cooper Union, in cooperation with the Drawing Center [https://web.archive.org/web/20101124124624/http://drawingcenter.org/exh_current.cfm?exh=771 Drawing Center], on Paul Rudolph's drawings for a Lower Manhattan Expressway [http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/11/paul-rudolphs-manhattan-megastructure.html].
Additionally, Walrod worked on various residential projects featured in The New York Times,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Williams|first1=Stephen P.|title=A Pair of Roamers, at Home on the Hudson|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/realestate/08habi.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times|date=July 8, 2007|page=RE1}}</ref> The New York Times Magazine,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Egan|first1=Maura|title=Pop Goes the Veronese|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/style/tmagazine/17interiorw.html|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times|date=August 13, 2008|page=M2262}}</ref> and [https://web.archive.org/web/20101203183800/http://www.hollywoodglen.com/ Architectural Digest].
==Retail and film== One of his furniture and design retail ventures in the 1990s was Form and Function<ref>{{cite news|last1=Chaplin|first1=Julia|title=Generation Wallpaper – A tribe of newly affluent global nomads has a magazine to tell them who they are|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/06/style/generation-wallpaper-tribe-newly-affluent-global-nomads-has-magazine-tell-them.html|accessdate=4 December 2017|work=New York Times|date=September 6, 1998}}</ref> in Tribeca with partners, Fred Schneider of The B-52's and Jack Feldman. For Ang Lee's 1997 film ''The Ice Storm'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=7244 |title=(film trailer) |access-date=2006-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061107122544/http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=7244 |archive-date=2006-11-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Walrod consulted on the period 1970s furniture and interiors. In 2004, his design of the Tribeca restaurant, Pace,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/openings/9638/index.html |title=(''New York'' magazine article) |access-date=2006-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041215053845/http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/openings/9638/index.html |archive-date=2004-12-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was featured on the television program ''Opening Soon'' on the Food Network.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lifenetwork.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=81467 |title=(television episode) |access-date=2006-05-30 |archive-date=2006-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008121938/http://www.lifenetwork.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=81467 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In May 2009 Walrod's designs for Gild Hall, a Thompson hotel in the financial district, were featured as a primary setting in director Steven Soderbergh's film ''The Girlfriend Experience.''
==See also== Rolling Stone Magazine<br /> The New York Times Magazine<br /> Fiorucci<br /> Index Magazine<br /> Mike D of the Beastie Boys
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/jim_walrod.shtml Jim Walrod, 1999], an interview with ''Index'' magazine * [http://www.merrillantiques.com/HOME/Press/Details/params/object/12441/default.aspx Article on 1970's furniture], ''Details'' magazine * [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1:120982140/THE+ITALIAN+JOB%7eR%7e(Jim+Walrods+designs).html?refid=SEO Interview with photos]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''WWD'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080531020919/http://www.wallpaper.com/directory/609 "Wallpaper Magazine design awards"] for Gild Hall * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080526120551/http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0805/gallery.bestbusinesshotels.fortune/12.html "Fortune"] magazines best business hotel award for Gild Hall * [http://www.thompsonhotels.com/ Thompson Hotel Group website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080707103828/http://www.thompsonhotels.com/ |date=2008-07-07 }} * [http://www.revelinnewyork.com/videos/jim-hester#right-profile-blocks "Revel in New York"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029034047/http://www.revelinnewyork.com/videos/jim-hester#right-profile-blocks |date=2009-10-29 }}, an interview with Jim Walrod and Hester Diamond * [http://www.jimwalrod.net "JimWalrod.net"], contact info * [http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/11/paul-rudolphs-manhattan-megastructure.html New Yorker] review of Paul Rudolph museum show
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walrod, Jim}} Category:1961 births Category:2017 deaths Category:American interior designers