Legends of Design: David Hicks

For this installment of Legends of Design, we are going to look at British interior and product designer David Nightingale Hicks (1929–1998).

Even though he was working in the advertising world for J. Walter Thompson (still a major player today in marketing and communications), Hicks had an abiding passion for art and design. But it wasn't until 1954 when the British magazine House & Garden featured the London house he decorated (at 22 South Eaton Place) for his mother and himself that his true career was born. Soon he was creating public spaces like restaurants and pubs in early 60s swinging London as well as private residences for the likes of Vidal Sassoon, Helena Rubinstein, Violet Manners (who became the Duchess of Rutland), Mrs. Condé Nast, Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Lord and Lady Londonderry. He created an apartment for his brother-in-law, film producer Lord Brabourne, and Prince Charles' first apartment at Buckingham Palace, as well as a new house in London for Hicks's father-in-law and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, Earl Mountbatten (Hicks married Lady Pamela Mountbatten, cousin to Prince Philip, in 1960).

Hicks expressed his taste and style in the freewheeling 60s, a time of social and cultural change. He eschewed traditional spaces and the typically restrained British approach to interiors in favor of unexpected, bright colors and bold patterns. But he did not turn his back completely on tradition and judiciously mixed seemingly clashing antique pieces with modern furnishings and abstract art. The fresh results were something no one had ever seen before in interior design. In his 1968 book DAVID HICKS ON LIVING--WITH TASTE, he said, "My greatest contribution as an interior designer has been to show people how to use bold color mixtures, how to use patterned carpets, how to light rooms, and how to mix old with new." Since there wasn't much available at the time, his pioneering penchant for such colors and patterns forced him to design and create rugs, wallpaper, fabrics, and linens for David Hicks Ltd. which eventually had boutiques in eight countries.

For cosmetics legend Helena Rubenstein, he created a space featuring purple tweed walls and magenta leather upholstery for her Knightsbridge apartment!

Hicks also elaborated on the idea of the "tablescape," a collection and artful arrangement of decorative objects.

David Hicks had three children: Edwina, Ashley who followed in his father's footsteps and is a designer/artist/architect, and India who also kept it in the family by creating a lifestyle brand with four books to her name. Ashley has relaunched interpretations of some of his father's rug designs, but venerable English wallpaper manufacturer Cole & Son stocks the original Hicks' Hexagon paper as well as a larger scaled version called Hicks' Grand!

Happy designing!