Ashley Hicks on His Father, David

By Marni Elyse Katz
December 10, 2009

Designer Ashley Hicks has built a career out of carrying on his father's legacy, while simultaneously developing his own unique style. In addition to his own furniture collection and design projects, Ashley, son of David, the influential interior designer and decorator of the latter half of the 20th century, has launched carpet, wallpaper and fabric lines inspired by his father's designs, and has published two books on his father's work. The most recent, David Hicks: A Life of Design (Rizzoli, 2009) is a masterful ode not just to David's work, but to his life. Filled with stunning sketches of rooms drenched in David's signature saturated colors; family photographs of David, his wife, Lady Pamela (daughter of the last Viceroy of India), and children, Ashley, Edwina, and India (also a well-known designer), and a survey of interior photographs of David's work, this hefty hardcover is as much personal scrapbook as monograph of one of the world’s most important modern day designers.

David Hicks revolutionized the English design scene with his electrifying color combos and eclectic blend of furnishings from different eras in a single space. Ashley shared images from his book that highlight some of David's most famous designs, talked with us about how his aesthetic compares with his father's, and shared his eBay wish list with us.

1. In 1960 Hicks met cosmetics maven Helena Rubinstein (referred to as Madame), who hired him to decorate her Hyde Park apartment. Like Hicks, Madame was unafraid of color. This sketch of for Madame Rubinstein's living room. Hicks said, “The most daring use I have ever made of colour was for the north-facing drawing room for Helena Rubinstein.” But he didn’t take credit for the “brilliant purple tweed” wall covering or pink, scarlet, and magenta seating. It was Madame who dictated the palette.

2. David Hicks’ library at Britwell, which he decorated in 1963. The walls are painted black and the carpet is Hicks’ own design.

3. Lady Pamela’s bathroom at Britwell. The room had Georgian paneling, white carpet, crystal chandelier, Georgian gilt-like glass and an architectural cabinet from 1750.

4. Mark and Duane Hampton’s first New York living room, 1968. The walls were covered in grey flannel “bankers’ suiting” and the floor in Hicks’ “Queen Bee” patterned carpet. The Louis XVI chairs were upholstered in op-art style Welsh blankets. Hicks remembered the room as a wedding present. (Mark had briefly worked for him in London.) Mark remembered it as a collaboration.

5. Alan Vetere apartment, New York, 1971. The wallpaper is Hicks’ “Arabic” pattern and the rug is his “Celtic” pattern. The Roman shades are burnt-orange vinyl and the table is lacquered orange. The mirror frame is covered in a Hicks' hexagon pattern, and the bed in a sumptuous fur spread.

6. The debonair David Hicks at a Chicago press conference, accompanied by a model, presenting his J.P. Stevens sheet and towel collections.

Photo #4, above, from John T. Hil. All other Hicks photographs courtesy, David Hicks Archive.

A Conversation with Ashley Hicks

The Inside Source: How did your father's taste influence you as you developed your own aesthetic?

Ashley Hicks: It was always there. I was totally immersed in it, obviously, but I became very interested in other things like African and Oceanic art, organic forms, ‘50s design—all things that he disliked. When I started designing interiors, I used a lot of his things, like bordered wall panels and dramatic curtained beds. Gradually, these fell away.

TIS: How would you describe your own style, and how is it similar to and/or different from your father's?

AH: I like a handmade, slightly rough look or feel to things, whereas he always wanted a glossy, seamless perfection. I like subtlety and some randomness rather than the bold gestures and dramatic scale he favored. I like some earthy, muddied colors, and he used clearer, brighter palettes.

TIS: Do you have a favorite among the many rooms he designed?

AH: His London bathroom/dressing room of 1971. He used the whole top floor of the house, covered walls, floor and furniture in bronze-colored tweed and had scarlet-lacquered wardrobe doors with grids of polished aluminum tiles. A fabulously cool room, in which I would sleep, age 8, on my occasional trips up to London.

TIS: Other important design influences?

AH: On me? Too many! Renaissance interiors, Directoire furniture, African masks, A.A. Rateau, J.J. Franck, Gio Ponti, Tony Duquette, coral from Bahamian beaches, etc., etc.

TIS: What did your bedroom look like when you were a child? Did your father allow you input into the design?

AH: There was a striped 'campaign tent' with David Hicks sheets stuck to the walls and the sloping ceiling. The bed and chairs were done in khaki tweed with scarlet borders to resemble an army officer's uniform. When I was 15, we moved and I designed my own room with solid black carpet, walls, and ceiling; everything else in there was black or white. The view of green Oxfordshire was the only color.

TIS: What style is your home today?

AH: A whole mixture; I never want a room to look as if it belongs to a specific time. There are a lot of painted rooms, painted by me: Grisaille trees line the dining room; green simulated leather panels cover the living room walls; and 'Inca masonry' in blood red is in my bedroom. I have a lot of my David Hicks by Ashley Hicks fabrics by Lee Jofa, which mix my new designs with his old ones. I used DH Hexagon carpet by Stark Carpet in my tiny movie theater, paired with dark seaweed green walls and ceiling.

Ashley Hicks' eBay Picks

Italian Secretary by Ico Parisi (buy it now price, $3,500; above, left) “I love this piece with its classical marquetry and modern lines.”

Natural Ling Bi Stone “Scholar Rock” (buy it now price, $399; above, center) “I have a Chinese scholar rock that I love on my desk. I bought it from China via eBay; it’s a wonderful thing to have. I’d lose the base on this one, though!”

Set of Five Natural Blood Red Coral Branches (buy it now price, $60.99; above, right) “Some nice pieces of coral are ideal for topping off a handsome bookcase.”