Paul Gorman is…

Jim Walrod August 25 1961 – September 23 2017

Sep 30th, 2017

//Jim Walrod, 2012. Photo: Jeremy Liebman//

I said many times to Jim – and have reflected on this over the last few days – that not many people get to pursue their passion every day of their adult lives. Jim did that. He never went to ‘work’. He did not care if he made money doing it, he just wanted to be able to have you understand what he saw and to have your opinion on it.
Kathy Walrod

Jim Walrod, who has died aged 56, occupied a unique position in the world of international design.

A collector, curator, writer and sometime retailer, as well as an interior designer and locator of unusual and one-off furniture and lighting pieces for a diverse selection of celebrity and private clients, the rangy, sandy-haired Walrod cut a singular figure.

Enthusiastic, informed and slyly humorous, Walrod was founder with Jack Feldman and Fred Schneider of the B-52s of New York’s important 90s/00s store Form & Function and described as “the ultimate design raconteur” by hotelier André Balazs.

To Mike D of the Beastie Boys he was “the furniture pimp”, an accolade won in part for having sourced Memphis designs for David Bowie (Jim revealed to me just a few weeks ago that some of these Italian PoMo pieces came via Tommy Roberts, subject of my book Mr Freedom).

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

AJ article on 430 caps a busy week packed with DIY Cultures, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Apartamento et al

May 15th, 2015
IMG_0024

//Spread from AJ featuring images of Mr Freedom + Paradise Garage. Photo: Caz Facey//

It’s been a busy and satisfying week, rounded off by publication today in the Architects Journal of an essay of mine on the cultural significance of 430 King’s Road.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Five extraordinary pieces: Barney Bubbles furniture designs come to light

Mar 24th, 2015

11049385_800983809956659_1819888681_n copy10632019_788389371245873_1054626473_n copy11032908_1555694758051730_951125264_n copy10894980_1792784970945748_1041827263_nElectricPlugDesk3�NinaSologubenko

// 5 x Barney Bubbles designs, 1981/2. Photo above: Nina Sologubenko//

Last week I had an exciting encounter with the rare and adventurous furniture designs produced by the late graphics master Barney Bubbles in the early 80s.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Bernard Lansky: Clothier to The King (1927-2012)

Nov 17th, 2012

//Bernard Lansky with Elvis Presley in Lansky Bros, 126 Beale Street, Memphis, 1956.//

I interviewed Bernard Lansky, who has died aged 85, for my first book The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion early one morning in March 2000 at his menswear store which was by then located in Memphis tourist attraction, the Peabody Hotel.

His son Hal had forewarned me: “You’d better get there early; once the customers start arriving at 8.00am he won’t have time for you.”

Just as their most celebrated client set fire to popular music as a means of cultural expression, so Lansky and his brother Guy (who was bought out in 1980) formed the template for street fashion by servicing a hitherto ignored subculture  – namely the black stylers, hipsters, roustabouts and juke-jointers crowding the city’s segregated area around Beale Street in the post-War period.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Face 1983: Geoff Deane applies the Practical Styling principle to pop

Sep 26th, 2012

Such was the shadow Tommy Roberts cast over popular music that even Practical Styling, the 80s central London furniture, office and homewares outlet he ran with partner Paul Jones, was cited as an influence by performer Geoff Deane.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,