Publisher’s Note: Norman Diekman, of New York City, died on January 23, 2022. He was a design talent and a force to be reckoned with. We will miss him. For a snapshot of the Norman we knew and admired, don’t skip the link to the Gagosian Spring Quarterly interview.
The following tribute, as written by his wife, Christina, who survives him.
Perfection Wasted by John Updike
And another regrettable thing about death
is the ceasing of your own brand of magic,
which took a whole life to develop and market —
the quips, the witticisms, the slant
adjusted to a few, those loved ones nearest
the lip of the stage, their soft faces blanched
in the footlight glow, their laughter close to tears,
their tears confused with their diamond earrings,
their warm pooled breath in and out with your heartbeat,
their response and your performance twinned.
The jokes over the phone. The memories packed
in the rapid-access file. The whole act.
Who will do it again? That’s it: no one;
imitators and descendants aren’t the same.
Norman, furniture designer, interior architect, book collector, educator and self-taught art historian died peacefully at age 82 after a final struggle in his three-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. He will be remembered by friends and colleagues for his quick humor, extraordinary talent and intense loyalty.
Phillip Johnson, a great role model, mentor and benefactor supported Norman’s architectural education at the Pratt Institute. After developing his skills with Lee Harris Pomeroy and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, he opened his interior design office in 1971.
In 1985, subsequent to working as consultant and collaborator to Ward Bennett, he expanded into furniture design with the Canto executive desk collection for Steelcase. After 2000, Coalesse a division of Steelcase manufactured three successful collections: award winning Diekman Tables, the Soft Leaf tables popular for educational and healthcare projects and his versatile Trees collection.
The Cubist occasional and conference tables for Tuohy Furniture, won Best of NeoCon Silver in 2007. In 2012, Cumberland Furniture launched the Christina tables, an imaginative interpretation of the oval form.
In the early 1960s, having been influenced by Phillip Johnson, he began to collect contemporary artwork, with particular enthusiasm in recent years for the drawings of Terry Winters, Glenn Ligon, Roni Horn, George Condo, Carroll Dunham, Julian Schnabel, Richard Artschwager, among others. While visiting museums and art galleries, he delighted friends and passersby with spontaneous lively, knowledgeable lectures. You’ll enjoy reading his interview in the Gagosian Spring Quarterly.
https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2020/08/13/collecting-norman-diekman-book-corner/.
Diekman taught and lectured at several colleges and universities, including Parsons School of Design, the New York School of Interior Design and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Diekman’s work is featured in two textbooks co-authored with John Pile and has been included in design books and publications.
Norman is survived by his wife of 46 years, Christina Diekman, his sister Mary Haselkorn and 3 nieces and 2 nephews.
In lieu of flowers, in honor of his passion for drawing, please make a donation in Norman’s name to The Menil Collection for Drawing Center Acquisitions, 1533 Sul Ross Street, Houston, TX 77006. https://menil.org/support
