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Inside design: India Hicks

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Inside design: India Hicks

The impressive India Hicks Author: Colleen Duffley

Design Experts

Inside design: India Hicks

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Take a closer look at India’s island style, from entertaining to tablescaping and much more.


India Hicks has an incredible background. Her maternal grandfather was Queen Victoria’s great-grandson and an English lord who served as the last viceroy of India; her mother attended prayer meetings with Mahatma Gandhi; and her father was one of the most celebrated interior decorators in history. India herself used to jet around the world as a model for Ralph Lauren and now lives in a small Bahamian paradise as a TV personality, author, hotel owner and product designer – not to mention a mother of five. But how does she capture this storied life in her own home? On photo walls and in curated collections shown throughout her whole house. And what’s not on display is in scrapbooks. “I have a huge library of leather-bound scrapbooks filled with ticket stubs, love letters, notes from my kids, photographs of Christmases gone by, invitations from parties and threads of colour that have inspired me. I love the depth and feel of a scrapbook – it’s like the fabric of life,” she says.

 

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Inside design: India Hicks

Daughter of an icon

It’s little wonder that India, daughter of the inimitable David Hicks, has an eye for style. But while Father was celebrated for his bold use of contrasting colours and geometric prints and Daughter is drawn to a more easygoing island style, it’s their dedication to personalizing a home that connects them. “My father was very daring and did things before anyone else did. He was very decisive and stood behind his beliefs, but he was also excellent at ensuring a client’s personality came through. He made houses into homes,” says India. “And I like to think my family’s personality is stamped all over our spaces.” One look at the black and white family photo wall in her dining room and we’d have to agree, even though, as India says in her new book, Island Living, her father used to say that hanging photos is “terribly common.”

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Miguel Flores-Vianna

Inside design: India Hicks

A father's wisdom

“Tablescape. My father invented this term, or so he claimed.... No matter whether he did or did not, he was the master of it,” says India in her new book. And she learned from the master: “You can create a tablescape from almost anything,” she tells us, “when you group together a collection of similar-coloured objects.”

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Getty Images

Inside design: India Hicks

A royal legacy

India, goddaughter of Prince Charles, was a bridesmaid in his wedding to Diana Spencer. “One of my most treasured items at home is a rose from Princess Diana’s wedding bouquet that’s in a glass paperweight.”

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Getty Images

Inside design: India Hicks

Design advice

“Good taste and design are by no means dependent on money. That’s a saying of my father’s, who was a very great designer.”

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Colleen Duffley

Inside design: India Hicks

The look of the tropics

As a resident of tiny Harbour Island in the Bahamas, which is known for its pink sand beaches and pastel-painted houses, India is an expert on tropical style. How can we make the look work off the island? Start with the bedroom. “White mosquito netting around the bed, ceiling fans, large vases of palm fronds and dark-stained mahogany floors pretty much set the scene,” she says.

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Miguel Flores-Vianna

Inside design: India Hicks

Island entertaining

“I love to put a dinner table in an unexpected place like at the top of a hill overlooking the town or on a terrace underneath the night sky. And when it comes to theme parties for kids, I’m obsessed. The best was a food fight on the beach with canned whipped cream, cooked spaghetti and jelly – even the adults joined in. We all lined up, counted to three and attacked! Then everyone washed off in the ocean afterward – it was quite a success!” says India.

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Vince Klassen

Inside design: India Hicks

Hotel chic

Tropical syle abounds in the guest house, one of three vacation homes for rent at hibiscus hill (India’s harbour island estate). Each one was built or restored by india and her partner, David Flint Wood.

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Brittan Goetz

Inside design: India Hicks

Island Style

Island Style by India Hicks (Rizzoli New York, $45)

Image by: Style at Home By: Sara Cation Source: Rizzoli New York

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