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Margo Grant Walsh is an American interior designer also known as a collector of silver serving pieces. As a designer of workplaces, first forSkidmore, Owings & Merrill and later forGensler, her clients included companies such asGoldman Sachs,Pennzoil, andShearman & Sterling.[1][2] Grant was inducted into theInterior Design magazine Hall of Fame in 1987,[3] and has been described by the IIDA as "one of the most powerful and influential women in American architecture and interior design", and a pioneer for both women in the field and the profession itself.[4]
Grant began her career in the San Francisco office of design firmSkidmore, Owings & Merrill, at the time the world's largestarchitecture firm, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become the top executive in the firm's growing interiors practice. She later took a position withGensler and Associates in 1973, eventually becoming one of its vice presidents. Since retirement in 2004, Walsh has spent her time curating her extensive silver collection.[5]
Marjolaine (Margo) Grant Walsh was born in 1936 to Alfred and Ann Grant on theBlackfeet Indian Reservation inFort Peck, Montana. Her father was a Chippewa, and her mother of Scottish origin.[5] Shortly after her birth, the Grants moved to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation inBelcourt, North Dakota,[5] aChippewa Indian reservation near the Canadian border where Grant spent her childhood. After the start ofWorld War II, the Grant family moved to thePortland, Oregon area, to assist in the war effort at theKaiser Shipyards. After high school, Grant took courses at the Portland Art Museum, which she later credited as sparking her interest in making a career in interior design.[5] She graduated from theUniversity of Oregonsumma cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in 1959 and a Bachelor ofInterior Architecture in 1960.[6]
On 20 February 1994, Margo Grant married John Perry Walsh, becoming Margo Grant Walsh, atSt. Patrick's Cathedral inManhattan, NY.[7][8] Walsh was a class of 1950Yale graduate with anMBA fromNew York University, who worked as a private investor and former president of Florence Walsh Fashions Inc., his late mother's company. He died of cancer in 1998.[9]
Post-graduation, Walsh went to work for theHerman Miller furnishing and furniture design firm, where she met Alexis Yermakov who was then setting up the interior design department ofSkidmore, Owings & Merrill's San Francisco office.[10] Yermakov recruited her to work at SOM. While there, she worked closely withDavis Allen, then head of SOM interior architecture and design. One of their notable collaborative projects was the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Hawaii.[11] Walsh spent thirteen years at SOM in San Francisco, eventually becoming associate director of interior design. Initially the firm's partners were hesitant to pursue interiors design and architecture projects as a separate practice and only sought to do such work in buildings designed by SOM. Walsh is credited with convincing them to more aggressively market their interiors studio.[3]
In 1973 Walsh was hired by Arthur Gensler to work for his corporate interior design firmGensler and Associates.[12] When she first spoke withArt Gensler, the firm, which eventually became the largest interiors firm in the world, only had three employees. She became Director of Interior Design in theirHouston office with a staff of 35. In 1979 she opened Gensler's New York City offices, where she was promoted to managing principal of the eastern region division. Later, she opened offices in Washington D.C. andBoston, as well as London in 1988. Before leavingGensler in 2004, Ms. Walsh became one of four on the board of directors, and the company had grown to a staff of nearly 2,000 by the time of her departure.[3]
After her retirement fromGensler in 2004, Walsh focused on her collection of twentieth century silver and metalware, which she started in 1981. Grant collected pieces made by Josef Hoffmann, Charles Robert Ashbee, Henri van der Velde, William Spratling, Robert Seigel, Gio Ponti and many more.[13] With over 800 pieces, it includes silverware, serving dishes, trays, jewelryobjets de vertu from the United States, England, Mexico, and Europe.[14] It is one of the largest such collections in private hands in the world.[citation needed] Walsh's "Collecting by Design" exhibition displayed over 450 pieces in 40 showcases and has been featured in 11 museum exhibitions since 2002, in locations from New York to San Francisco.[4][15][16][17][18]
with a Chippewa father and a mother of Scottish lineage.
Davis Allen, a legendary SOM interior designer she considers a mentor
[Grant] was astonished to be told that she would be his lieutenant for the project
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