Kirjahaku

Known for his bold use of color, eclecticism, and geometric designs in carpets and textiles, Hicks turned English decorating on its head in the 1950s and 60s. His trademark use of electrifying color combinations, and mixing antiques, modern furniture, and abstract paintings became the in style for the chic of the day, including Vidal Sassoon and Helena Rubinstein. By the 1970s, David Hicks was a brand; his company was making wallpaper, fabrics, and linens and had outposts in eight countries, including the United States where he worked with the young Mark Hampton, and where his wallpaper was used in the White House. 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, he stated in his 1968 work, David Hicks on Living With Taste, the last authoritative book on his work. Written by his son, Ashley Hicks, with unprecedented access to Hicks s archives, personal photographs, journals, and scrapbooks, this book is a vibrantly illustrated celebration of a half century of stunning interiors.

Iconic deisigner David Hicks (1929–1998) wowed the English decorating world with his bold geometric prints, electrifying color combinations, and quirky mix of antique and contemporary furniture. Thanks to his prodigious talents, his gift for publicity, and his connection to the royal family through his wife, Lady Pamela Mountbatten (cousin of Prince Philip), Hicks attracted an A-list clientele. For decades, Hicks documented every salient moment of his life in scrapbooks, amassing 24 volumes filled with press clippings, invitations, swatches of his signature textiles, sketches of interiors, magazine articles on his projects, and hundreds of photographs, mainly family snapshots but also his own photos of people like Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, and Andy Warhol. Many of the pages, now thumbed and foxed, are laid out in a collage style, and several are embellished with drawings and notes, revealing Hicks’s thoughts and sense of whimsy. Here, his son, Ashley Hicks, has chosen more than 325 of the best pages—providing not just a window into the extraordinary world of David Hicks but also a fascinating time capsule.

With rare access, interior designer and artist Ashley Hicks has photographed the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace, home of Britain's monarch since 1837. An important representation of Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian styles, the palace is the work of such noted architects as John Nash. Hicks's eye brings a vibrant take on the formal spaces, capturing the magnificent rooms furnished with treasures from the Royal Collection. Starting at the Grand Staircase, Hicks leads us through the opulently decorated State Rooms, which include the White Drawing Room and the Blue Drawing Room that both overlook the palace gardens; the Ballroom, which is the setting for twenty investiture ceremonies each year; and the Throne Room, used by Queen Victoria for spectacular costume balls in the 1840s. The long, skylit Picture Gallery is hung with important works of art in the Royal Collection by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, van Dyck, Vermeer, and Canaletto, among others. Decorative furnishings from George IV's exotic Brighton Pavilion lend a fanciful turn to many of the rooms. This intimate tour through the Buckingham Palace State Rooms is a necessary addition to the libraries of devotees of the royal family, English architecture, decoration, and the fine arts in general.