Clicking on the pictures above will open the Ashley Hicks Furniture website in a new window]]>Clicking on the pictures above will open the Ashley Hicks Furniture website in a new window]]>
I was thrilled when Jo Malone asked me to do three scented candles for them, combining their delicious scents with David Hicks patterns. It was a limited edition, supposed to be available for 3 months; they sold out in a couple of weeks, sadly, so that many people who wanted to buy them could not. Hicksonian, above, with some hellebores, a single iris and a lump of mica, in my dining room, tiled with the same design. I love putting single flowers in tiny containers, especially on my black dining table, where the colours really show.
On my chimney, above, is the red Herbert’s Carnation candle, with a couple of old, green glass buoys, my childhood drawing of a sunset from our Bahamian beach house, and my daughter’s pottery boat. Below, two Riviera candles scenting my hall, their angular green lines working well with my Mask steel console, surrounded by orange plastic, and a pottery Ganesh – god of good luck – to look after the house.
I was so flattered to have my bathroom on the cover of January's World of Interiors. I have, however, a sneaking suspicion that it should credit my 'Geometric Genes' rather than 'Geometric Genius', the geometry in question being my famous father David Hicks's Hicksonian design which is on the chair, the towel (his, from 1970) and the floor tiles (mine, in handmade Moroccan cement, available from Popham Design.)
Above the chair is the flag from his speedboat, with the same H-logo (four H's for Hicks) that appears in Hicksonian and that my father put on everything he could. It's fairly tatty after years of flapping in the salt air of the South of France and, later, the cold rain of Oxfordshire, when it flew on his Range Rover.
The H-logo now appears in my glamorous sister India's new jewellery collection, some of which can be seen on her website, indiahicks.com. I have to admit to checking her blog constantly - it's incredibly entertaining. If I was to attempt the same thing it would be deadly dull; I will, however, put occasional snippets up here on new furniture pieces and other designs - and I have included a page of beautiful Things, and another of beautiful Places, making use of photographs that I have taken over the years.
In my bathroom, the bath panel reads MDCCXLVIII (or 1748,) the date of Giambattista Nolli's printed map of Rome, which covers the left-hand wall: see this and the rest of the house in 'Oxfordshire' under 'Interiors' on the top menu - where there is a selection of my interiors (and even a couple of exteriors.) And, by the way, for any dedicated David Hicks devotees out there, the Hicksonian fabric on the chair is now available as a custom print in my own David Hicks by Ashley Hicks collection from LeeJofa.
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