Ashley Hicks

His first piece was his interpretation of a Greek Klismos chair, based on a 1920s drawing by an architect.

The chair is rendered in Burmese teak, with a seat made of interwoven straps of saddle leather.

He describes the chair as "far more like the ancient Greek ones in its construction, than the Neoclassical revivals".

When Hicks initially designed in India, he designed under the moniker of "Jantar Mantar".

Hicks explains, "It means abracadabra, also hocus pocus, and is local slang for the Jaipur Observatory."

In addition to interior and furniture design, Hicks produces various lines of fabric, wallpaper, and carpeting—some under the "David Hicks by Ashley Hicks" brand and others under his own name.

Licences to his fabric and wallpaper collections are held by GP & J Baker; the licences to his carpeting lines are held by Stark and Alternative Flooring.

Ashley Louis David Hicks (born 18 July 1963) is a British interior designer, author, photographer and artist.

He is the only son of Lady Pamela Hicks (née Mountbatten) and David Nightingale Hicks.

Hicks has designed interiors in Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

He also has a fabric line for Lee Jofa and furniture lines.

Hicks is the grandson of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

He was also the godson of his first cousin once-removed, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Hicks was born on 18 July 1963, in King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill, London.

He is the son and second child of David and Lady Pamela Hicks.

He is the younger brother of Edwina Brudenell and the older brother of India Hicks, author, television host, fashion model, and founder of her eponymous lifestyle brand.

In 1978, the family decided to sell the house, and Hicks attended the three-day Sotheby's sale, 20–22 March 1979.

After the auction, the Hicks family moved to The Grove, a nearby estate, and also resided at Albany, an historic and exclusive apartment house in Piccadilly.

Through his mother, Hicks is a grandson of the first Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

Through his maternal grandfather, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Hicks is a second cousin of King Charles III.

He is also the godson of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Lady Edwina Mountbatten was one of Britain's richest women, having inherited most of the £7.5 million fortune of her grandfather, Sir Ernest Cassel.

As a child, Hicks spent family holidays at Sligo Castle in Ireland and the Mountbatten family ancestral home at Broadlands in Hampshire, where the royal family were frequent guests.

In August 1979, when Hicks was 16 years old, his grandfather and his cousin Nicholas Knatchbull were assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army when his grandfather's wooden boat, the Shadow V, was blown up by a remote-controlled bomb on Donegal Bay.

"I didn't go on the boat because I went to buy some cigarettes. It was a beautiful summer's day and I was with India, watching television. We had the windows open and then we heard this big bang."

Hicks says his first decorating experience took place when he was 15 or 16 years old, when he decorated his room in a checkered black-and-white motif.

Everything in his room had to be either black or white, including the ceiling and carpet.

Influenced by his father, Hicks studied painting and fine art, graduating from the Bath School of Art and Design and trained with the Architectural Association School of Architecture, in London.

He then worked briefly for his father's interior design house, before establishing his own architectural firm, designing interiors and furniture.

In 1997, Hicks began designing furniture at the Gem Palace in Jaipur, India.

In 2002, along with his ex-wife Allegra, he wrote Design Alchemy, which provided an overview of the interiors and products they designed.

Hicks also produced a series of Allegra Hicks shops as well as a collection of home accessories that were sold in these shops.

Hicks began photographing historic interiors for Cabana Magazine in 2016, ranging from a derelict glass factory in Murano, Venice, to grand English country houses like Houghton and Althorp.

In 2017, Hicks published his first book on his own work, Details, which also serves as a source book for his inspiration; published by IDEA Publishing, it sold out within a month.

In 2017 he photographed and wrote a history of Buckingham Palace: The Interiors, published by Rizzoli in conjunction with the Royal Collection.

Hicks was raised at Britwell House, an 18th-century house in Britwell Salome in Oxfordshire, that served as the family's home, as well as his father's showplace.

It was there that his father designed elaborate landscapes that were "virtual outdoor rooms with carefully framed vistas".

Hicks was a boarding student at Stowe School.

In 2019 he published Rooms with a History, a survey of his own design works and historic interiors that inspired them, all photographed by him.

Hicks is currently a contributing editor for Cabana Magazine.