David nightingale hicks biography
Hicks, David Nightingale 1929 - 1998
David Nightingale Hicks [commonly known as David Hicks] was born in Coggeshill, Essex, England, on 25 March 1929 and studied at Central School of Arts and Crafts in London from 1938 to 1942. After initially working for the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, he embarked on a career as a designer-decorator in London in the mid-1950s.
In 1958 he teamed up with Tom Parr [later head Colefax and Fowler] and opened a shop on Lowndes Place, off Belgrave Square, London. Before long, as a result of his talent combined with his family connections, he was attracting clientele from the rich and famous, including Helena Rubinstein, Vidal Sassoon, Earl Mountbatten the King of Saudi Arabia, and the Prince of Wales, for whom he designed interiors.
By the 1960s he was also also designing furnishing fabrics and carpets. He also produced fashion and jewellery collections. In designed sets for Richard Lester's film Petulia. Later in his career he turned to designing gardens By the 1970s he had acquired an international reputation and opened shops in 15 countries.
His interest in architecture developed in the 1980s and he designed a Palladian villa in Portugal for himself and his family.
Hicks was the author nine books is which he discussed his approach to design and documented his various projects. He died in Britwell Salome, Oxfordshire, on 29 March 1998.
Bibliography
Contemporary Designers, edited by Sara Prendergast. Detroit, Michigan: St. James Press, 3rd edition, 1997
Hicks, Ashley. David Hicks. A Life of Design. New York: Rizzoli, 2009
David Hicks (British designer)
English interior designer
David Nightingale Hicks (25 March 1929 – 29 March 1998) was an English interior decorator and designer, noted for using bold colours, mixing antique and modern furnishings, and contemporary art for his famous clientele.
Early life and education
David Nightingale Hicks was born at Coggeshall, Essex, the son of stockbroker Herbert Hicks and Iris Elsie (née Platten). He was educated at Charterhouse and the Central School of Arts and Crafts.
Career
After a brief period of National Service in the British army, Hicks began work drawing cereal boxes for J. Walter Thompson, the advertising agency. His career as designer-decorator was launched to media-acclaim in 1954 when the British magazine House & Garden featured the London house he decorated (at 22 South Eaton Place) for his mother and himself.
An early introduction by Fiona Lonsdale, wife of banker Norman Lonsdale, to Peter Evans initiated business partnership in London as the pair, now joined by architect Patrick Garnett, set about designing, building and decorating a restaurant chain (Peter Evans Eating Houses) in London's "hotspots", such as Chelsea and Soho.
Evans said of Hicks:
"[He] was without a doubt a genius. He would walk into the most shambolic of spaces that I had decided would be a restaurant, a pub or a nightclub and, lighting up a cigarette, would be out of the place within ten minutes, having decided what atmosphere it would generate because of what it would look like. He always got it spot on."
Hicks and the architectural practice Garnett Cloughley Blakemore (GCB) collaborated on a series of private commissions, including a house on Park Lane for Lord and Lady Londonderry and an apartment for Hicks's brother-in-law, film producer Lord Brabourne. The firm also worked on a new house in Lon
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 desi
Selected Group Exhibitions
David Nightingale Hicks was a British Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1929.
How much does a David Nightingale Hicks cost?
David Nightingale Hicks's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 7 USD to 39,268 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork.What is David Nightingale Hicks's most expensive architecture & design?
Since 2012 the record price for this artist at auction is 39,268 USD for TABLE MODÈLE 'VARENNE', sold at Christie's Paris in 2022.Where can I see David Nightingale Hicks's works?
Fredric Snitzer Gallery featured David Nightingale Hicks's work in the past.David Nightingale Hicks in the news
David Nightingale Hicks has been featured in articles for Artillery Magazine and ArtDaily. The most recent article is CELEBRATORY AND MOURNFUL written for Artillery Magazine in July 2023. The artist died in 1998.Artist's alternative names: David Hicks