This father's day I thought I might do something a little different and highlight the person that single-handedly raised me and my sister. His name is Kevin Walz.
There is no way to introduce this prolific man in just a few sentences- he might require something of an encyclopedia to really convey the full depth of his person. There is, also, no way to share all of the inspirational and unconventional (subversive even!) things he has done in his life-- art, cooking, writing, teaching, designing products, residential interiors, offices, and retail spaces, houses and now a typeface! So, I will simply include a little interview and some of my favorite paintings he made of seed packets, which speak to his honed sense of color application, his appreciation of fresh vegetables and the joy found in a bountiful kitchen.
He has a beautiful exhibition of work up right now in Chelsea called Numino at Ralph Pucci: an installation of furniture, art, textiles, typefaces and a collaboration with Poet Rangi McNeil and one with yours truly. Spoiler! There is a soap component!

AW- What are you working on right now?
KW- I’m doing what I do best and most often—multi-tasking. Currently making seed crackers, ordering two rhubarb pies from Petee’s, working on the typefaces I designed for my recent show at Ralph Pucci. I am working with a colleague on a summer research project assessing the innovations of a design class we taught at Pratt Institute with Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We developed low-cost modular housing for low income communities in Sierra Leone, which I hope will influence how countries house their citizens all over the world.

AW- What are the most important rituals you require on a daily basis? 
KW- I take very short showers but always have an assortment of Mater bars and liquid soap to choose from. My daily routine, for the past 30 years, revolves around a morning application of 14 essential oils and oil blends on my body, for skin, for spirit, for focus, for wellbeing. I follow that with a vegetable body oil blend for my dry 75 year old skin; rosemary oil for my scalp and Mater Face Serum on my face.
Then I make hot lemon water (“acqua e limone”) and homemade granola to start my day. 

Side note- For the record, anyone that has ever met my father knows that he has an incomparable presence that is perfectly matched by the completely distinct aura of scent- the result of his aforementioned ritual in plant essence wizardry. Watching him all my childhood, as he blended droplets of oil into the palm of his hand, is the singular most influential experience for the creation of Mater. In fact, our Mater Serum is a paired down version (only 5 EOs) of his ritual. In a way, it was made to honor his commitment to plant medicine and is an attempt to capture this special experience of him. 

This is a photograph I took of my childhood bathroom in Rome when I visited him after I moved back to NYC. His routine was still organized by color on the shelf in front of the mirror and over the sink.

AW- What are your favorite Mater products? KW- I keep a large stock of Mater bar soap in my bathroom cabinet. I end up using half and giving half of them away to friends. I only have a shower in my apartment so the Rope Soap is an extremely convenient object to hang from the faucet handle, but I also currently have Arbor soap in the shower. As the father of a soap maker, I am blessed with scented bounty. I can’t play like that with the Face Serum, though, or the Kitchen Bar—I am fully committed to those products and will never deviate.    AW- How do you like to spend your Sundays? KW- If I stay up really late, I’m still up by 9am and my mind is very creative. I spend time in my studio painting and I always enjoy several naps during the day. When I'm up early, I’m off to the gym. I allow my multi-tasking free-reign, as I rise on Sundays so who knows when or if I will get out the door. Sunday is laundry day and I don’t use a dryer. AW- What is the best part of being a Father? KW- I’m not a father, really. I’ve been a single parent for four decades, which has a far larger job description. The greatest thing I was ever called by anyone was by a child of mine who said I was more than her father- I was her teacher.

This is his living room in his apartment in Harlem NYC, featuring his furniture and art.

AW- As a New Yorker for most of your life, what do you love about living in NYC?
KW- My formative years were spent in a suburban development in a household of golfers, who I did not feel related to. Without ever having lived in New York, I bolted at age 18 and spent my next three decades living in NYC. It was gritty, bankrupt, sordid and corrupt, but that may have been New York at its best, as it was fun and it felt like the center of the planet. When I returned after two decades in Rome, the main subject had turned to money. The conversation may have been about art, but now it was only about what the art sold for. No longer the city that never sleeps, but it still has the most languages spoken in one city in the world.

AW- What do you hate about it?
KW- Hate is a very strong word to use for something as complex and rich as New York City. The corruption is bigger, more centralized. It used to be that you'd read about a mafia shoot out or some gangs the next day. Now it’s white collar crime: Real estate, Wall Street, Silent. No longer do I feel like I’m in the center of the world. But still New York has the most languages spoken here and, like the Kitchen Bar soap—where would I go?

AW- Can you share your favorite recipe?
KW- I have lost interest in eating out, so, yes, I have been cooking. I was spoiled in Rome. When you order food at a restaurant in Rome, they may have made the tomato sauce or cleaned the artichokes ahead of time, but the food always tastes freshly cooked per order, with produce picked that morning. In New York the food tastes 7/8 pre-made, last minute finishing touches.  But also, as Frank Zappa said, they would pull back the curtain and we would see who they really are. 

So at home, I have been drawn to comfort food, easy to make, giving me more time to focus on other things. Spaghetti with Black Tomato Sauce is one of my own. It’s easy and the only thing u might have to buy is a handful of basil. Recipe Below.

Usually his kitchen is full of action so this picture only does justice to his beautiful minimal design for this small space. It allows for movement all around. I love sitting at the table across from him, talking, watching him standing at the island, while he chops vegetables.

 

These painting are all from his Seed Packet series, made with acrylic on vintage Italian military linen, and are double sided. This first one is the Artichoke.

 

Watermelon

 

Cabbage

 

Peppers

 

Eggplant

 

Borlotti Beans

 

Cavolo Nero

 

Beets

 

Spaghetti with Black Tomato Sauce Serves 4 Start heating the very salted pasta water When it boils drop in a pound of spaghetti, your choice Cook 1 minute less than the package says A large clove of garlic chopped and sautéed with a little very good olive oil in another pot with sides (cooking tomatoes splatter terribly) Quickly open up a large can of Italian tomatoes and drop them into the garlic before they darken Take two fistfuls of walnuts and chop them roughly and put them in a sauce pan with olive oil and sautée them over medium heat, stirring them with attention  Meanwhile back to the pot of tomatoes Break them up as they get softer and stir them up The walnuts look unchanged and then suddenly there is a scent of popcorn and you want to avoid them burning The tomatoes are collapsing, so add the very hot walnuts and the sound will be deafening and the tomatoes will soon darken You cant add too much basil I toss in whole leaves and stir the sauce around for a minute or two Add some olive oil to the sauce and add a scoop on each bowl of pasta Parmesan should not be covering every Italian dish, but here I suggest chipping the block of cheese and dropping some on each plate

Grateful for you, Dad.

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