'Diamond in the Rough'

Mike D of the Beastie Boys may rock the stage. But his mother Hester Diamond rocks the art world.

The fact that Diamond is as fascinating as her son is undeniable. The New York Times Style Magazine toured her Upper West Side duplex last fall just to prove that this once social worker mom in the 60’s was even cooler.

What the magazine found in Diamond's home was a unique pairing of Renaissance art with postmodern design. The end result is what they coined a “postmodern cocktail party set in a 16th century Florentine Church.”

Diamond told the magazine that she first started collecting art in the 50’s when she worked as a social worker and public school teacher. Widowed in the 80’s, Diamond moved on to marry then NYU Dean Ralph Kaminsky. The union fueled the couple’s addiction for Leger, Picasso and Kadinsky paintings.

“Back then you could put stuff on layaway for $25,” explained Diamond (If only I could purchase a Picasso on layaway).

To support her habit, the Beastie Boys mom launched her own interior design business and made millions from auctions at Sotheby's. It was how she invested in the works of Bernini and how she helped patron the non-profit Medici Archive Project in Florence.

Informally versed in art from trips as a child to the Museum of Modern Art, Diamond is fond of color and unusual shapes. She conspired with interior designer Jim Walrod and the two pushed the color envelope.

The ultimate design guru, Walrod is best known as the “furniture pimp” as referred to in the Rolling Stone. The Jersey City native has consulted and designed interiors for the likes of hotelier Andre Balazs and architect Jean Nouvel.

Near a window that overlooks Central Park, Diamond opted for a clear magenta desk with acid yellow drawers by Italian design firm Ycami.

Opposite the lavender B&B Italia chairs and magenta dining table is Ghiberti and Studio’s “Virgin and Child” set atop a white pedestal.

She had the walls of the master bedroom painted a lemon yellow color. Surprisingly, the unconventional hue draws a stark (but well-executed) contrast to the red headboards of the beds; the orange end tables; and the reds and blues in the prism styled rug. On the walls hang Ortolano’s “Circumcision” and Jacopo Del Sellaio’s “Cupid and Psyche” – their rich blues and reds acting further as accents.

“Good taste can be a system of constraints,” said Diamond.

So too, is the recipe for being a pretty cool mom.

-S. Gonzalez

*Photos courtesy of the New York Times Style Magazine